I think in general, it’s much worse for politicians to be saying these things out loud. I’m pretty sure Seymour doesn’t literally think we should blow up a ministry. But there are people who think that would be a great idea. When they hear people in respected positions saying that kind of thing (even jokingly), it legitimises their positions.
Seymour knows all of this. He’s seen protesters in parliament grounds calling for politicians (and not just the left!) to be executed. So he either made a very poorly thought out joke, or he’s trying to play some 5D chess which will backfire on him in the long run.
Either way, I’m sure he won’t back down and will happily embrace the “OMG the woke left crazies can’t take a joke” narrative.
For all the hype from National about Labour + Green + possibly other party being a coalition of chaos, I think that’s probably preferable to a National + Act coalition of terror.
I think in general, it’s much worse for politicians to be saying these things out loud. I’m pretty sure Seymour doesn’t literally think we should blow up a ministry. But there are people who think that would be a great idea. When they hear people in respected positions saying that kind of thing (even jokingly), it legitimises their positions.
Seymour knows all of this. He’s seen protesters in parliament grounds calling for politicians (and not just the left!) to be executed. So he either made a very poorly thought out joke, or he’s trying to play some 5D chess which will backfire on him in the long run.
Either way, I’m sure he won’t back down and will happily embrace the “OMG the woke left crazies can’t take a joke” narrative.
For all the hype from National about Labour + Green + possibly other party being a coalition of chaos, I think that’s probably preferable to a National + Act coalition of terror.
Terror and chaos, I’d be inclined to say. Seymour’s policy doesn’t seem particularly consistent with itself, or National’s