BBC host David Aaronovitch deleted a social media post on Monday that poked fun at the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling by suggesting President Biden ought to “hurry up” and have former President Trump murdered.
Aaronovitch’s comments follow the Supreme Court ruling that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecutions over actions that fall within the core responsibilities of their office and that they are “at least presumptively immune” from prosecution for all other official acts.
“If I were Biden, I’d hurry up and have Trump murdered on the basis that he is a threat to America’s security #SCOTUS,” Aaronovitch wrote in the now-deleted post on the social platform X.
Aaronovitch, in a subsequent statement, said his initial post was “plainly a satire,” but that he decided to delete it after facing fierce backlash.
“There’s now a far right pile on suggesting that my tweet about the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity is an incitement to violence when it’s plainly a satire. So I’m deleting it,” Aaronovitch wrote Monday afternoon on X.
“If nothing else though it’s given me a map of some the daftest people on this site,” he added.
Aaronovitch continued to take jabs at his critics, adding in a subsequent post, “Incidentally an anthropologist might find it interesting to examine the hashtags, bios and tweet histories of those who have been attacking me on here today. They reveal a rather extraordinary sub-culture.”
Democrats and other Trump opponents have criticized the ruling, arguing it will embolden future presidents to break the law with impunity — including former President Trump if he returns to the White House.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor alluded to the broad implications of the majority’s ruling on the presidency, writing in her dissent, “When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution.”
“Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune,” she continued. “Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”