MLB Probes Umpire For Tweet Vowing To Buy Assault Rifle Due To Likely “CIVAL WAR” If Trump Is Impeached

ESPN reports:

Major League Baseball is looking into a since-deleted tweet by longtime umpire Rob Drake, commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday. Drake tweeted late Tuesday that he planned to buy an AR-15 rifle “because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020,” according to a copy of the tweet obtained by ESPN.

The tweet, which was deleted soon after it was posted, followed one earlier in the night regarding the House of Representatives’ impeachment proceedings with President Donald Trump. The other tweet read: “You can’t do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?”

Slate reports:



The 50-year-old quickly deleted the tweet, which echoed far right “civil war” talking point that has seeped into the brains of the Trumpiest of Americans. The apparent logic being: It’s totally fine, patriotic even, to take up arms against your own country if a call doesn’t go your way.

The idea that it is perfectly acceptable to threaten violence is one that the NRA often uses and foments, under the guise of constitutionality. During the Trump presidency, the civil war refrain has gradually made its way from the echo chamber of the white nationalist fringe into the echo chamber of Fox News.