Some are interpreting radio host Joe Walsh’s Wednesday afternoon tweet as a literal call to violence following the election, while it seems the majority are electing to point and laugh instead. At least gun control crusader Piers Morgan should be OK with it, seeing as Walsh’s weapon of choice is a musket, just as the founders envisioned when they drew up the Bill of Rights.
On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump.
On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket.
You in?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
what exactly does that mean?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 26, 2016
Good question. There’s no need to alert the authorities, as plenty of people have already; it’ll be up to the powers that be to determine if “grabbing my musket” constitutes a threat, or if it’s meant symbolically. (The odds that Twitter will suspend Walsh’s account look pretty good.)
Didn't you get in trouble for this once before?
— Meredith D. (@YankeeBeatCheck) October 26, 2016
At least once before.
Grab your musket and meet me in North Carolina.
Time to fight the Feds.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) May 9, 2016
I'M GRABBING MY MUSKET is the perfect thing to scream into an old fashioned phone that isn't plugged in
It's not a great thing to tweet— Erin ? Ryan (@morninggloria) October 26, 2016
In the meantime, plenty of people aren’t exactly quivering at the image of Walsh wielding a musket — or, as the cable networks would likely call it, an assault musket.
https://twitter.com/MetricButtload/status/791374471290507264
"When you're an ex-congressman, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the musket. You can do anything." https://t.co/qlNApg4Ypi
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) October 26, 2016
Looks like .0002% of your followers are "in". Awkward.
— Robert Bingaman (@robertjosiah) October 26, 2016
girl, you don't have a musket.
— Christopher Fitzgerald (@kifferfitz) October 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/AdamWeinstein/status/791374355129184257
and what are you going to do with said musket? Really? A musket? Not a carbine? You really are out of touch 🙂
— Spectemur Agendo (@BraxtonMedia) October 26, 2016
Actually, a musket would be an outdated and ineffective weapon for armed insurrection against a modern—*falls into manhole*
— Alex Brown (@brown_alex_) October 26, 2016
.@WalshFreedom you'd get droned before you could even load it
— Matt Provenzano (@mattprov94) October 26, 2016
You gonna old yeller your candidate? seems a bit harsh.
— Frinco (@VictorZapat1) October 26, 2016
do you actually own a working musket?
— Liam Stack (@liamstack) October 26, 2016
I would pay five dollars to watch Joe Walsh actually try to load and fire a musket.
— Matt Duss (@mattduss) October 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/kimoco/status/791375063480045568
On November 9th, I'm gonna be standing at the ready with my muskrat pic.twitter.com/hnajKi4hii
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) October 26, 2016
me, I'm grabbing a muskrat, and we'll have some love.
— Dr. PottyT. (@pottytheron) October 26, 2016
On the 9th you will be curled up in your basement whining.
— Willing to discuss (@buffsblg) October 26, 2016
Curled up on the floor on Nov. 9? There’s no shame in that.
* * *
Update:
Now that the FBI and Secret Service have been deluged with alerts, Walsh confirmed to Yahoo News that he was “talking metaphorically” and would not literally be grabbing a musket.
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/791408580029276160
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