# Trump as terrorist **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266 "2019-01-05T21:21:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/1 "2019-01-05T21:21:44Z")
Why hasn’t this been mentioned in the media? Trump is holding 800,000 people’s pay hostage until he gets his demands. That’s got to be one of the biggest terrorist acts in history. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/2 "2019-01-05T21:42:34Z")
Not only that, but people working for no pay is in violation of the 13th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/3 "2019-01-05T21:47:10Z")
You’re completely right. And the NRA is a terrorist organization, the atomic bombings were a terror attack, the Founding Father’s were all terrorists, and Japan fought in self-defense. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/4 "2019-01-05T22:07:45Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Why hasn’t this been mentioned in the media? > > Trump is holding 800,000 people’s pay hostage until he gets his demands. That’s got to be one of the biggest terrorist acts in history. Maybe the Dems are terrorists because they are holding this pay hostage so that they can allow foreign invaders in the country? Is this a joke? Is this what this board has come to? Any political disagreement means terrorism? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/5 "2019-01-05T22:10:34Z")
See [CONTENTS | The Illustrated Guide to Terrorism](http://terrorism.lawcomic.net/contents/) for a conventional definition of terrorism. Jeopardizing people’s jobs is not terrorism, nor would 800000 people going on strike be considered terrorism. Even what bad guys like Stalin did or what naughty state actors constantly do today is not terrorism by that measure, so the media is unsurprisingly not going to embrace that loaded term lightly. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/6 "2019-01-05T22:21:18Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Maybe the Dems are terrorists because they are holding this pay hostage so that they can allow foreign invaders in the country? > > Is this a joke? Is this what this board has come to? Any political disagreement means terrorism? The “Dems” are not the ones making demands. Hostage-takers make demands. And, what is the definition of “terrorism” - “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” I’m not sure what Trump is doing is “unlawful” but it might be. That’s your department. ETA: And since this administration has completely changed the meaning of “terrorist,” I don’t feel that I’m stretching. > [@](#): > > On Friday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that last year, 4,000 individuals “that came across our southern border” were detained by Homeland Security for being known or suspected terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/7 "2019-01-05T22:24:39Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > You’re completely right. > > And the NRA is a terrorist organization, the atomic bombings were a terror attack, the Founding Father’s were all terrorists, and Japan fought in self-defense. Two-and-a-half out of four ain’t bad! ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/8 "2019-01-05T22:47:09Z")
There’s also the useful concept of [“state terrorism”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_terrorism) to cover the stuff Stalin did and expand the idea to include things that are clearly terrorism, but happen to be legal. I don’t think stupid and self-defeating policy counts as state terrorism, but people should know that the concept exists, even if it doesn’t apply to the OP’s scenario. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2019, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/9 "2019-01-05T22:53:42Z")
After his government kidnapped children, didn’t keep records of where they were, and trafficked some of them into we don’t know where–and that was consciously terroristic–this shutdown seems like hardball politics by comparison. But yes, you can say that someone who threatens mass reprisal either for his political ends or to force subservience is a bit of a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/10 "2019-01-06T00:05:12Z")
Trump’s not smart enough to be a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/11 "2019-01-06T03:45:32Z")
Neither was Richard Reid. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t one. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/12 "2019-01-06T03:54:26Z")
Generally speaking, terrorist acts have to include actual attempted murder or murders to count. The thing about depriving 800k people of their pay is that this is something a failing business may do routinely. If a corporation fails to pay it’s workers for a few weeks while the corporate executives fight over the accounts, nobody calls them terrorists. Some workers will quit when that happens, it’s really bad for morale and retention, but some will stay and sometimes they do get paid. Sometimes the company folds and the workers never get their back pay, since they are just creditors and the company has finite assets. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/13 "2019-01-06T04:15:36Z")
He’s already been compared to Hitler. Why not Bin Ladin as well? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/14 "2019-01-06T04:20:20Z")
I don’t know about terrorist. Extortionist? Yeah. But terror means killing innocents. Trump is just making them miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/15 "2019-01-06T04:25:04Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Why hasn’t this been mentioned in the media? > > Trump is holding 800,000 people’s pay hostage until he gets his demands. That’s got to be one of the biggest terrorist acts in history. Even taking what you wrote as an accurate representation of the facts, it doesn’t make Trump a terrorist. Terrorists don’t take people hostage for money. They kill people to cause terror. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/16 "2019-01-06T04:34:24Z")
Trump terrifies me. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/17 "2019-01-06T04:45:08Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Maybe the Dems are terrorists because they are holding this pay hostage … (knee slapper) Right, because Democrats didn’t cave to Trump’s ransom demand when he shut down the Republican controlled government, then Democrats are guilty of the thing that Trump did, and Republicans enabled. That’s a good one! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/18 "2019-01-06T06:27:05Z")
Seriously, guys. Trump wants funds allocated for a border wall, Dems don’t. The impasse depends on both parties. Either one could cave and resolve the issue. Why not blame Pelosi and Schumer as the terrorists? That makes equal sense as blaming Trump. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/19 "2019-01-06T06:43:49Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Seriously, guys. Trump wants funds allocated for a border wall, Dems don’t. The impasse depends on both parties. … Did it depend on both parties when the Republicans controlled the house, the senate, and the white house when the breakdown occurred? Jeez. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266/20 "2019-01-06T06:48:53Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Did it depend on both parties when the Republicans controlled the house, the senate, and the white house when the breakdown occurred? Jeez. :smack: Trump is not a Republican, except on paper. He is a party unto himself. The Republicans hate him as much as the Democrats do. And you know that as well as I do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-as-terrorist/827266.md?page=2)