In 1170 King Henry II and Thomas a’ Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, got into an intense argument. In the Middle Ages the Church and the Crown had almost equal power. Either entity could arrest, try, imprison, or execute. Either could own property, confiscate property, or stand an army. Basically, Henry and Beckett argued over who could do what to whom. The fact that the two men had once been good friends didn’t soften the argument any. In one heated discussion Beckett stormed out of the throne room, and Henry uttered the following words, “Would someone please rid me of this pesky priest.” No one knows if he shouted those words like a command in battle or if he just muttered them sotto voce in quiet frustration. It didn’t matter what he meant, what he thought. The four knights who had been in the throne room at the time knew that they had to take it as a command and so, off to Canterbury they rode. They found Beckett kneeling before the altar in the Cathedral there and there they hacked him to death. That Beckett was subsequently canonized made little difference to the archbishop, but it did bring up the issue of whether or not the king was above the law. Hmm… where have we heard that before?
It was on the 8th of July, 2024, that our president uttered the following words:
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,”
It was on July 13, just five days later, that Thomas Crooks did just that.
Can we prove that Old Joe
1. Knew what he was saying,
2. Realized that someone might take him up on it, or
3. Had it all planned out ahead of time?
Of course not. Not yet, anyway.
But we can begin to wrap our brains around the importance of official utterances. King Henry denied repeatedly that he had meant for his loyal knights to take him literally, but that didn’t undo anything. Becket was still dead.
Biden could claim a mulligan on the bull’s eye remark, but, Corey Comperatore, a brave father, is dead, a wife bereaved, two daughters robbed of the leadership of a good man, and two severely injured patriots. To say nothing about the fact that a presidential candidate was shot. This wasn’t an “Ooops.”
We can’t say Biden caused this — proximity is not causality. However, we have an irresponsible, mindless idiot in the Oval Office and he’s likely to say or do anything. He might, as commander in chief, give an order that will set off a whole firestorm of death and destruction. We also don’t know who’s playing puppeteer. Whose words are issuing forth from Old Joe?
Pacific Bible College in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at 1window45@gmail.com
Image: Public Domain
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