CAMDEN CITY, N.J. — Just what exactly does the top Democrat in Camden County mean by “one way or another”?
That’s the question after Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. took to X with a message about President Donald Trump that is raising eyebrows.
“Traitor @realDonaldTrump has to be taken out of office one way or another,” Cappelli wrote in a post that circulated Thursday.
The comment came in response to a post from the left-wing account “Call to Activism” criticizing Trump for allegedly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin amid continued Russian attacks on Ukraine.
Cappelli, of course, isn’t some anonymous internet troll posting political hot takes from his mother’s basement.
He’s the longtime director of the Camden County Board of Commissioners and one of the most powerful Democratic officials in South Jersey, operating in a county where Democrats have dominated the political landscape for decades.
That’s what makes his choice of words particularly noteworthy.
There are obviously constitutional mechanisms for removing a president from office, including impeachment and conviction. There are also elections.
But “one way or another” is an awfully broad formulation, particularly when paired with the phrase “taken out.”
At a minimum, the language is reckless coming from an elected official in an era when political violence is a legitimate national concern.
Trump survived two assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Imagine, for a moment, a Republican county commissioner declaring that a Democratic president needed to be “taken out of office one way or another.”
Would the New Jersey political establishment shrug it off as routine political commentary? Would the state’s leading Democrats give the speaker the benefit of the doubt?
You already know the answer, and the answer is deeply troubling.
