‘86’ is a colloquial term for being unwelcome, fired, or otherwise getting kicked out, the same way getting axed is. The people claiming it’s a violent term are liars or rubes.
Wikipedia has a good list of historical usages of the term, including in politics prior to now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)
My first memory of “86"was from the princess diaries when Mia asks” can we 86 the flags", referring to the country-of-origin flags on diplomats cars.
I’ve never understood how someone can twist “86 47” to mean to kill.
If you hear someone say “remove that man” and think “these people want me dead” the you’re clearly not of rational mind, and are paranoid.
Because conservatives only know how to argue in bad faith, quite frankly.
Conservatives twist it that way because projection. If they had said “86 46” (which admittedly is more catchy) they would absolutely have intended violence, in spite of “86” not directly implying it.
Every baseless accusation is a confession.
This is like playing “How far can I lean over this ledge?”
Yes; the question is: how high up is the ledge?
I’d argue that at this point, even though “86” means to remove, “86 47” has been interpreted in a very specific way, kind of like a mob boss telling someone to “take care of him.”
The “86 47 guy” did not “allude to threatening” the president.
Try it and report back
If you can say “We need to throw out the president.” You can also say “We need to 86 47”. Where’s the threat, I don’t think it’s ever meant killing. Maybe “187 47” would trigger some pearl clutching if you’re in California.
Here is a breakdown of what is illegal and what is permitted to say.
Don’t even need to click it I know what it is. Though I wonder if they ever got blowback for that?
A lot of people add “in minecraft” to statements like that. for example, “I want to blow up the statue of liberty, in minecraft.” You can also wish someone bad health all you want and it not be considered illegal.
But like for real though, why? What do you hope to accomplish? It would be very foolish to wear a garment with such a message or put a sticker on your car. Regardless of the legality cops can still arrest and assault you. Wild MAGA can still put you in the hospital. The law can’t stop then, only punish them after the fact. Your nose won’t be unbroken by a court ruling it’s protected speech. Same with online, even if you find the exact line where you can be as threatening as possible while still remaining legal, that won’t un-ban your account. My point is that what is legal or not is a matter for the courts, but everything leading up to your turn on the docket is fluid, legally speaking.
86 doesn’t even mean kill. It means kick out, like getting tossed from a bar for being too drunk.
If it’s directed towards a person as an actual action instead of a generic desire for something to happen, it counts no matter what language you try to couch it in. President or not.
While most people and judges might let you off for using aggressive words in the moment, like, “I’ll kill you!” in a fight with otherwise no efforts to do so, you might still be getting a talking to from the FBI or secret service over targeting the prez with language.
