There's nothing even slightly funny or acceptable about public discourse that calls for young people to ambush a major public figure and finish him off with a "kill shot." When a Missouri Democratic state senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, publicly wished for President Donald Trump's assassination, her fellow Democrats led the charge for her to be censured. They joined Republicans in demanding her resignation. Because there are certain lines that people in a civilized society simply do not ever cross.

But when the person invoking the language of an assassination is a prominent Fox News host, the rules apparently go out the window. Fox News host Jesse Watters crossed so far over the line of acceptability that he not only deserves to be fired but also to receive a visit from the FBI with an eye toward prosecution for inciting violence.

Watters, speaking onstage to a conservative audience, urged young Republicans to stage an ambush and fire a rhetorical "kill shot" to bring down Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious-disease expert who advised Trump and, now, President Joe Biden. Watters said it in the context of asking confrontational questions, but the language of violence he used insistently, and with strong emphasis on a death result, could incite worse.

"You got to ambush a guy like Fauci," he said, apparently referring to a style of confrontational interview.

"Now you're going for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush is deadly because he doesn't see it coming. ... Boom, he is dead! He is dead!" Watters tells would-be shooters to record the ambush. "Now you get that footage to us. You get it to Fox" so the assailants can "make a name for yourselves." Audience members giggled in response.

Fauci told CNN he believes Watters should be "fired on the spot" but conceded that's unlikely. "The only thing that I have ever done throughout these two years is to encourage people to practice good (pandemic) public health practices" Fauci said. "... And for that, you have some guy out there saying that people should be giving me a kill shot to ambush me? I mean, what kind of craziness is there in society these days?"

The network says it won't take disciplinary action, labeling Watters' remarks as a "metaphor." A metaphor that lasted eight minutes, followed by instructions on going after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Even if Watters was joking, there are nut cases out there who don't think it's a joke. A right-wing militia in Michigan plotted an armed operation to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 after Trump attacked her. A Texas gunman, echoing Trump's words about an immigrant invasion, shot 22 people dead in an El Paso Walmart in 2019, later saying he was targeting Mexicans. And five people died after a mob took Trump seriously on Jan. 6 when he told them to "fight like hell" and pointed them to Capitol Hill.

So, yes, people take such words seriously, and they act on it. Which is why Watters deserves an FBI visit soon.

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