The term “waving the bloody shirt’’ has its origin in the tense, post-Civil War Reconstruction era, used to denounce the fiery rhetoric of those citing the gore of battles won to wreak vengeance upon those who supported the ruined and defeated Confederacy.

It’s a phrase that still carries weight in contemporary society, defining perfectly the reaction of President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump and his fellow right-wing travelers to the senseless and horrible assassination last week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, gunned down on a Utah college campus during a presentation of his conservative views.

Trump can hardly be blamed for reacting emotionally to Kirk’s horrific death. The two men were said to be close. But, as is his wont, Trump has gone miles beyond waving the bloody shirt t

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