“What are the consequences for traitors who meddled with our sacred democratic process and tried to steal power by taking away the voices of the American people? What happens to them?” Sharp mused to camera, in a clip flagged by The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer.
“Well, in the past, America had a very good solution to dealing with such traitors: Execution.”
The monologue offers a chilling glimpse at what appears to be a growing comfort with violence from far-right platforms like OAN and their viewers. Sommer noted that members of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement had gleefully circulated the clip online, seeing it as “proof that the mass executions are right around the corner.”
At least one OAN viewer uploaded footage of themselves cheering on the call for killing their political opponents. “They get hung!” the viewer shouted after Sharp asked about the punishment for traitors.
The monologue only grew more explicit as Sharp went on.
“There have been numerous indications that foreign governments, including China and Pakistan, meddled in our election to install Joe Biden as president,” Sharp said. “Any American involved in these efforts, from those who ran the voting machines to the very highest government official, is guilty of treason under U.S. Code 2381, which carries with it a penalty of death.”
The projection here is enough to give you a massive headache if not a full-blow aneurysm. But consider the fact that they have already harassed hundreds of election officials and workers into quitting with their death and rape threats. Now they are suggesting that they should be tried and executed.
TPM asked Sharp by email about the monologue, noting that it seemed to embrace executing thousands of people for purported election crimes. (Sharp had asked his viewers, “How many people were involved in these efforts to undermine the election. Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?”)
“No, neither myself, nor OAN is ‘embracing executing thousands of people,’” Sharp replied. “OAN is simply pointing out that if election fraud is proven, then it could very well constitute treason. And according to our laws, treason is punishable by death. If it is found that government officials coordinated with foreign countries to overthrow the election, then that would be the very definition of treason. Which, according to our nation’s laws, could result in execution.”
He then helpfully directed TPM to the federal law defining treason and its punishment, death.
“These are simply facts,” he said. “You may disagree with the suggestion that election fraud was committed. However, it is indisputable that the US has laws which lay out consequences for committing certain crimes, including treason. This report is only making that point clear.”
“I’m simply reporting that conspiring against the government to overthrow an election, with the help of a foreign government, would be treason,” Sharp said in a subsequent email. “If that is investigated, and if that is proven, then US laws maintain that execution is a legal punishment for those crimes. That is the extent of the report.”
“Neither I, nor OAN, are suggesting anyone should be executed,” Sharp told TPM. “That is for the appropriate law enforcement agencies to determine.” He also denied that OAN was advocating for “vigilantism.”
“Execution for treason is strictly a legal process,” he wrote.
I’m so old I remember when Democrats all made very clear that Trump didn’t commit treason when he openly colluded with the Russian government in 2016 by hiring Paul Manafort and saying on television “Russia, if you'[re listening …” Treason only applies to nations with whom the country is at war. But whatever. These people are batshit crazy and they’ve brainwashed tens of millions of people into thinking this is normal discourse.
But hey! Bipartisanship!