New York Times contributor and leftist think tank vice president Will Wilkinson has hit a new low, calling for the lynching of Mike Pence in the name of “unity.”
As Democrats obsess over potential violence from Trump supporters on the day of Joe Biden‘s inauguration, they completely ignore the actual violence perpetrated by leftist activists, and the calls for violence from their own party.
In a since-deleted tweet, Wilkinson called for Biden to achieve unity in the country by executing Mike Pence.
“If Biden really wanted unity, he’d lynch Mike Pence,” Wilkinson, vice president for research at the Niskanen Center, said.
Hi @willwilkinson! Why did you call for former Vice President Mike Pence to be lynched?@nytimes,@katiekings, any comment on your "contributing opinion writer" calling for violence against a public official?@TwitterSafety & @SecretService should know pic.twitter.com/xiDjMQ5mvS
— Gabe Hoffman (@GabeHoff) January 21, 2021
Wilkinson later tried to walk back his statement on Twitter, explaining that the post was “sharp sarcasm” and meant as a joke, but the New York Times writer has a history of downplaying left-wing violence.
“Last night I made an error of judgment and tweeted this. It was sharp sarcasm, but looked like a call for violence. That’s always wrong, even as a joke. It was especially wrong at a moment when unity and peace are so critical. I’m deeply sorry and vow not to repeat the mistake,” Wilkinson wrote.
Ignoring Violence, Mocking Victims
Just last week, Wilkinson sent out a tweet that essentially mocked dozens of murder victims, claiming that the destruction, riots, and violence caused by Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots was only “smashing the window of a Jamba Juice.”
“Violently overrunning police to storm the seat of government during a joint session of Congress in a bid to overturn the result of a presidential election is categorically different from smashing the window of a Jamba Juice during a BLM protest. So f*cking stop it, right now,” Wilkinson wrote on Twitter the day after the storming of the Capitol.
He’s not alone in his radical calls for violence, as his boss, Niskanen Center president and co-founder Jerry Taylor, tweeted out direct threats against the couple that brandished guns at protesters outside of their St. Louis home.
“If I were in that march, and these racist lunatics were waiving guns at me, I’d like to think I’d rush them and beat their brains in. And I wouldn’t apologize for it for one goddam second,” he wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted.
Taylor also encouraged violence and attacks on the couple by members of Antifa.
“Yeah, excuse me if I root for #antifa to punch these idiots out. Guilty as charged. I know who’s side I’m on,” he said.
Wilkinson has since been fired from his job at the Niskanen Center, but is still employed by the New York Times.
