Editor's note – This article contains material that may be triggering to some readers, including sexual violence and death threats. Please, read with caution.

NEDERLAND — In the days following the release of emails between convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and several prominent figures in the political world, President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly called for journalists to silence themselves, and, as pressure mounts against him for his administration’s unconstitutional behavior, has even called for the death of those who oppose him. 

Threatened with death

“We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk.” 

These are words from a video released by Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Representatives Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Jason Crow of Colorado, through public media channels on November 18. 

The video featured the politicians—all veterans of United States military and intelligence services—speaking directly to military leaders. The speakers reminded leaders of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which stipulates that it is not illegal for service members to disobey the orders of a superior officer if those orders are “contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States or lawful superior orders.” 

“No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution," the six veterans said. "Whether you’re serving in the CIA, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical. And know that we have your back.

“Don’t give up the ship.”

The blowback was immediate, with Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller claiming on social media Democrats are “openly calling for insurrection.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated every one of President Trump’s orders is lawful, and that these members of Congress are engaging in “dangerous rhetoric.”  

President Trump reacted to the Democrats’ video by posting on his Truth Social platform: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” A proceeding post by the President read: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!”

These posts were immediately condemned by politicians on both sides of the aisle, with many labeling the President’s outburst as blatant threats against those officials in the video, which could potentially invoke violence against them or their families. 

According to a spokesperson for Representative Crow, their office has received many threatening phone calls and messages on social media since the President’s posts. Crow serves Colorado’s 6th congressional district. He is a former Army Ranger Captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received a Bronze Star.

Since the blowback from the initial video, Crow has followed up with his own responses on social media. In an interview with Fox News, he listed the specific policies of the Trump Administration that he believes are unlawful.   

“It’s very telling that President Trump and those around him think it’s criminal simply for asking people to follow the law,” Crow said. “This moment requires moral clarity. Every American, regardless of your background, should unite and reject his calls for political violence.”

Crow referred to the Trump Administration’s deployment of ICE, Border Patrol, and National Guard forces to five U.S. cities to police their citizens, which has been deemed unlawful by federal and state judges. Despite these court cases being locked in appeals processes, the Defense Department has ordered hundreds of troops to leave Chicago and Portland’s streets. 

Crow also mentioned the newly re-named Department of War’s repeated bombing of supposed Venezuelan drug trafficking boats as examples of the President’s illegal orders.

As the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier stations itself in the Caribbean Sea, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the Administration would be designating Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) headed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Rubio claimed that the cartel is to blame for trafficking drugs into the U.S. and Europe. 

“Operation Southern Spear” has begun to roll out, as the USS Gerald R Ford carried tactical aircraft and transported an additional 4,000 troops to join the 8,000 troops already actively training at Trinidad and Tobago, seven miles off the Venezuelan coast. 

Venezuela’s military is mounting up to meet the perceived “fabricated eternal war” that Maduro claims Trump is leveling against him and his people.

Meanwhile, the more than 21 military strikes that the U.S. has perpetrated against Venezuela over the last few months have been classified by Amnesty International and experts from the UN as a “murder spree” that breaks international human rights law. 

“I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them,” Trump said in October in response to questions about whether he is required to make a formal declaration of war in order to continue such attacks on alleged “narco-terrorists,” an aggression which the Trump Administration has refused to justify with evidence or a briefing of Congress. 

During his second term as President, Trump has had an increased focus on Maduro and Venezuela, with political strategists hypothesizing that the increased pressure is due to Trump’s desire for regime change. 

Such pressure on the country has included the cancellation of President Joe Biden-granted oil concessions, the imposition of a 25% tariff on imported goods from any country that imports Venezuelan oil, and the designation of Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization.

The administration has claimed Tren de Aragua operates in parts of Denver and Aurora. It has ordered Colorado officials to be scrutinized in regards to the handling of a prison transfer between local law enforcement and ICE agents, and the supposed Tren de Aragua infiltration of an Aurora apartment complex, a claim that has been widely debunked.

Increasing vituperation

While an all-caps post from the President on social media is not necessarily a new phenomenon, the nature of his language has become increasingly hostile. He has graduated from calling Democrats and his other perceived enemies as “losers” and “criminals” to outright calls for violence while dehumanizing them. 

“Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,” President Trump said on November 14 to Bloomberg News’ White House correspondent Catherine Lucey after she asked him a follow up question about the Epstein files during an Air Force One press conference.

Lucey originally asked about a statement that Trump “knew about the girls,” made by Jeffery Epstein in one of the many emails released November 12 by the House Oversight Committee.

Trump answered by implicating former President Bill Clinton as having a relation with Epstein and being in the files. Lucey started to ask her follow-up, with Trump interrupting her by calling her the historically misogynist insult. 

The White House’s official response to those speaking out about the gendered slur directed to Lucey was that the press should be thankful that President Trump is so honest and forthright.

Political opponents and media outlets linked the President’s comment to dehumanizing behavior used to discipline women into being submissive based on societal norms, often viewed as “traditional values.”

The advance of patriarchy

The modern amalgam of traditional values, or “trad,” has grown to represent a hyper-patriarchal culture, perhaps most obviously represented in the Trump Administration by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his recent overhaul of the U.S. military to focus on masculine-based standards. 

Though Trump’s name-calling is one of the less obvious markers indicating that his Republican Party may be supporting the country’s move toward a hyper-patriarchal culture, the party’s continued attempts to regulate women’s bodies, to revoke women’s right to vote, and their repeated normalization of misogyny, fascism, and sexual violence, is rather telling. 

“This is why I say liberal white women are the biggest threat to America,” Newsmax’s Carl Higbie said in response to reports that over 80% of women aged 18 to 29, and a great surge of women 30 to 44, voted Democrat in the November elections. “They will literally vote for their own destruction and take everyone down with them.”

“There is a Young Women problem, and I have a theory,” Rachel Campos-Duffy said on Fox News. “As soon as women get married, they magically get a lot more conservative. So if I was leading the conservative movement I would say encourage marriage early, you’ll get more conservative young women.” 

During this second Trump term, there have been elevated discussions just outside the political spectrum regarding a repeal of the 19th Amendment, which grants women the right to vote. Hegseth, back in August, shared a video featuring known Christian nationalist Pastor Douglas Wilson, and others, who believe the “man of the house” should be the only member of the household permitted to vote. 

Affecting women voters 

Political critics have also noted the Trump Administration’s attempt to further regulate the voting process, under the guise of preventing non-citizens from voting, disproportionately impacts up to 69 million women who have married and changed their names.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, if passed, would require individuals to provide proof of citizenship—primarily a U.S. passport—when registering to vote.

President Trump also attempted to implement an executive order back in March that would have regulated the voter registration process without it being passed by Congress. That order was blocked in federal district court after civil rights organizations filed a joint lawsuit. 

But the release of the Epstein emails and the subsequent fervor related to releasing the associated files, in addition to causing the President’s online outbursts to become more blatant in their calls for violence, has also invoked some of the most egregious responses from Trump loyalists, seemingly excusing sexual violence and cementing the hyper-patriarchal shift. 

 When is a child not a child?

"He was into the barely legal type, like, he liked 15-year-old girls," Megyn Kelly said on her SiriusXM podcast on November 13, discussing the semantics of whether Epstein should be considered a pedophile.

“I'm definitely not trying to make an excuse for this, I'm just giving you facts—that he wasn't into, like, 8-year-olds. But he liked the very young teen types that could pass for even younger than they were, but would look legal to a passer-by."

The backlash levied against Kelly for her perceived defense and trivializing of sexual violence against minors was immediate, with many pundits and commentators saying that Kelly was actively attempting to gaslight the American public into believing that a 15-year old girl is “barely legal,” as opposed to the actual classification of being a child.

In response, Kelly stated that those detractors are attempting to make the Epstein files a “gotcha” moment for Trump.

“This is a pathetic and blatant piece of proof that these people don’t care at all about sex trafficking victims,” Kelly retorted. “The media cares about one thing and one thing only: Getting Donald Trump.”

The future of the files

With the Epstein Files Transparency Act being approved by the House by a 427-1 vote, and passed quickly by the Senate and signed by President Trump, the Department of Justice now has 30 days to release the files. 

Expect a Peak Report coming soon, here in The Mountain-Ear, for full coverage on the release of the Department of Justice’s version of the Epstein files.