I hope he is burning in hell People need to see this A field director for Congressman BennieGThompson who headed the Jan 6th Commission recently proposed legislation to remove Trump s Secret Service detail wishing Trump s assassin had better aim on social media I don t condone violence but please get you some shooting lessons so you don t miss next time ooops that wasn t me talking
The irony in the above statement lies in the contradiction between the speaker’s stated values and their actions. In typical polite society, individuals are expected to espouse nonviolence, both in thoughts and deeds. Here, the speaker lays out that they firmly oppose violence but then goes on to wish harm on someone else, which is a clear violation of the principle of nonviolence. This stark contradiction forms the basis of the irony present in the statement.
This statement's humor relies on this irony, as well as on context and shock value. One does not usually expect a field director for a congressman to openly wish for the death of a former president. The humor, in this case, comes from the sheer audacity and unexpectedness of the statement. It is less about laughing due to joy or amusement, and more of an uncomfortable, disbelief-induced laugh.
The humor here is also rooted in the speaker’s audacity to clearly and publicly vitiate their ostensible commitment to nonviolence. It's the proverbial "kicker," as one might argue, that the speaker quickly rescinds their statement, playfully pushing off their violent wish as an accident. It is like telling a joke, delivering a punchline, and then saying, "just kidding." The speaker is essentially trying to have it both ways — making controversial declarations and then, ostensibly, retracting them.
However, one might argue that the humor in this statement is quite dark. Much like gallows humor, it employs a shocking and grim scenario to elicit laughs. Death or injury, especially regarding public figures within a politically charged context, falls under the category of subjects that isn't traditionally considered humorous. Yet, the speaker manages to infuse a degree of levity in the scenario by injecting casual irreverence into a serious matter.
Moreover, the sentence could also be humorous to readers who share the author’s disdain for the politician in question. For these people, there might be some satisfaction, hence humor, in seeing a figure they dislike being ridiculed in an exaggerated fashion, flowing from a shared sense of disdain towards the said figure, which transcends beyond the typically expected decorum in political discourse.
Lastly, the sentence might be seen as funny due to its inherent absurdity. When viewed from a certain lens, the idea of proposing legislation to remove a former president’s security detail and then wishing harm on that person is arguably an over-the-top response. The audacity and extreme nature of such a plan could be interpreted as humorous because of how ridiculously unlikely and dramatic it is. This sort of absurdity often forms the basis of comedic material. I hope he is burning in hell People need to see this A field director for Congressman BennieGThompson who headed the Jan 6th Commission recently proposed legislation to remove Trump s Secret Service detail wishing Trump s assassin had better aim on social media I don t condone violence but please get you some shooting lessons so you don t miss next time ooops that wasn t me talking
