Nicholas Kristof was certainly insightful when he wrote in The New York Times, August 2016, that America has become "meaner" with the emergence of presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

But seven years ago, Kristof misdirected the source of political hate speech.  That Kristof was incapable of focusing on the nature of the problem is indicated by a Times column he wrote in December 2016, following the election of Mr. Trump to the presidency.

In this column, Kristof hid behind CIA disinformation to call the president-elect "The Russian Poodle" and, alternatively, Putin's "lap dog."

To read the Times print editions of June 14 and June 15 is to realize that the Times has descended to an abyss of lies, invective, and utter hate speech.  Kristof, who left the paper for a politic career in Oregon, is back, salivating — with his fellow miscreants at this hate-mongering paper — at the wish that the former president will be convicted and sentenced to prison for the rest of his days.  See his invective-infused June 15 column, "A President Governing From Behind Bars?!"

The online title of this vicious example of anti-Trump hate speech is "I Think Trump Is Going Down, and yet I Keep Having the Same Nightmare."  I understand the title actually to offer this thought: Kristof hopes Mr. Trump will spend the rest of his days in prison but fears that Biden will be blamed for policies that will drag down America.

The Hate Trump Columns Only section of the Times, June 14, carried a despicable essay by Thomas L. Friedman, "Trump Thrives in a Broken System.  He'll Get Us There Soon," and a truly unhinged diatribe from Bret Stephens, "Lock Him Up."  How soon until the political hate speech from Times columnists leads them to call, literally, for the "self-destruction" of our 45th president?

Given the unfathomable hostility Stephens harbors for Mr. Trump, this writer wonders that the title of this column of political hate did not end with these five words: "and throw away the key."

It is not surprising that the unhinged Times columns will not pause to consider the impact on Mr. Trump's future of the Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012.  There is not the slightest doubt in this writer's mind that protection for an incarcerated former president is hardly a factor for these swamp denizens.

Alas, there is far more to come from the unhinged media in the months ahead.  Let them salivate away in their bitter juices.  Of more concern is this front-page Times story, June 15: "Judge's Record in Trump Case Raises Concern."

The jurist randomly assigned to the case against Mr. Trump is Judge Aileen M. Cannon.  House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan should be alert to a move by the media, led by the Times, to intimidate Judge Cannon, and even to spur protests outside her residence.  Don't take it from this writer.  The Wall Street Journal, June 15, carried an editorial pointing. out: "The anti-Trump partisans are now shouting that she must disqualify herself" — as a Trump appointee.  See this editorial: "The Recuseniks Come For the Trump Judge." 

What, after all, is a writer for The New York Times, if not an "anti-Trump partisan"?

Image: Adam Jones via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).