Supreme Court Justice David Souter was a “goat f...ing child molester!”

That is but one of many debasing comments uttered by Erick Erickson in recent years. In 2015 Atlantic Magazine called him “the most powerful conservative in America today.”

Regarding the press, Erickson wrote, Obama “could be a serial killing transvestite and the media would turn a blind eye.”

Erickson is not on the fringe. He is a founding member of the tea Party, has a radio show, been a regular commentator on major cable networks and a sought after adviser by the establishment of the Republican Party.

When CNN hired Erickson to join veteran reporter John King on his show “John King USA,” CNN Political Director Sam Feist praised Erickson as “a perfect fit for John King… he is an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America…”

This is the type of imprimatur, from a major network, that legitimizes such a fouled mouthed, intolerant political operative whose ultimate goal is not addressing public policy challenges but simply increasing his personal exposure.

The CEOs and executives of the major networks and the shadowy “donor class” who have supported Erickson and his type are just as responsible, if not more so, for the diminution of public discourse. Erickson and his allies went after anyone who would dare to object to their form of conservatism.

Sadly, for Erickson, the worm has turned.

On March 19, Erickson, who is a key leader in the “Stop Trump” movement, wrote a column on his blog titled, “Convert or Die: Living in the Age of Trump”.

Erickson reports that Trump supporters are threatening him and his family and he now needs 24/ 7 security. He places the recordings of threats made to his radio show on his blog.

At one point in Erickson reports one threatening call came “…at the start of last week when I was on air fighting bronchitis and pneumonia.”

“As for conservatives, our ways are not their (Trump supporters) ways. We do not have to take the ‘convert or die’ attitude,” writes the aggrieved Erickson suggesting an openness to opinions not his own.

Really? Ask any former “moderate” Republican member of Congress such as Stonington’s Rob Simmons if he or others felt that Erickson and his allies in the tea party did not expect Mr. Simmons to “convert or die,” metaphorically speaking.

For far too long, since the days of Lee Atwater, the Republican Party has allowed itself to be infected with an anti-American form of politics. A type of politics that does not allow dissent within their own party and makes the Democratic Party not the “loyal opposition” but the enemy.

So now Erickson and others in the “establishment” of the Republican Party are shocked at the rise of Trump? They can’t possibly be so naïve.

During the Occupy Wall Street protest Erickson said his heart was gladdened by “watching a hippie protester get Tased.”

“The guards are being very gentle with him,” Trump said at one rally. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”

Monkey see monkey do.

It is horrible that Erickson and his young family must now live under threat. I do not support Trump and find his pleas for non-violence to be hollow and disingenuous.

Erickson is a successful young man with a great ability to communicate and influence millions of Americans. With that ability comes great power and responsibility. Thus far Erickson has been reckless, malicious and irresponsible in the use of such power.

Ben Davol, an unaffiliated voter, has served as a political consultant to a variety of political campaigns for both parties. He lives in Stonington.