The Taliban Killed a Trump Supporter—Can it Happen in America?

An Afghanistan tribal elder, Gul Nabi, helped make a medal in support of President Trump. Apparently, that meant he had to die, according to the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Back in January, a gathering of about 300 people in Afghanistan decided to pay for a medal to be crafted and delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for President Trump, as reported by a leading TV station in Afghanistan. The medal had the following words etched on it: “Bravery Medal from the people of Afghanistan to Donald Trump, the President of the U.S.”

Gul Nabi made the medal, and now the Taliban has killed Nabi with a bomb. An Afghan Local Police commander, Farhad Akbari, also helped raise funds for the medal, and he is fleeing the country so that he will not be killed too.

The official website of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan proclaims that Nabi’s support of the medal for Trump was “appalling.” The Taliban said Nabi had to face the dire consequences of his action.

The Taliban sure has a strange definition of “appalling.” What’s really appalling is that the Taliban thinks making a medal for President Trump deserves a brutal death sentence!

Before you think that nothing like that could ever happen in America, consider the violent threats that some Trump supporters here have received. When Kanye West came out in support of President Trump, the American rapper Daz Dillinger called for the deadly Crip gang to “F*** Kayne up.”

Award-winning recording artist Joy Villa is a proud supporter of President Trump, and as a result, she has been pounded with hate mail and has received death threats.

At a 2016 Trump rally in San Jose, protesters threw eggs and water balloons at Trump supporters, and even started punching them.

U.S. Representative Martha McSally received death threats from Steve Martan, because he was upset the representative supported President Trump.

And it goes both ways. A quick Google search reveals reports of violence by Trump supporters, too.

It’s time for such threats to end. If we don’t stop now, down the road perhaps it will not be mere threats—people will actually get killed for their political views, as happened in Afghanistan. We must slam on the brakes and stop America from going down that road. How? We can be intolerant toward wrong political ideas, but we must be tolerant toward people. We can put to death wrong views using sound reason and evidence, but we must not strike down people. We should engage in robust debate, not robust punching!

Here’s our challenge for the day. Go out and find someone who has complete opposite views when it comes to religion or politics. Take them out for coffee and ask questions about their views. Respond with your own views, and remember that solid evidence will speak loudly enough, so we don’t have to raise our voices in shouts. If it’s on Facebook, respond without using ALL CAPS or calling people names. Let’s set an example for others—let’s show that we can disagree without yelling at people, smearing them, or punching them. Let’s show we can disagree without hate.

Let’s demonstrate that we can still “love thy neighbor,” even while disagreeing with our neighbor about who should be president!

In Service,