He meant this metaphorically, of course. It was not actual call for violence or fire, but there wasn't much metaphorical burning of the things following this tweet.If they even TRY to replace RBG we burn the entire fucking thing down.
— Dr. Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) September 19, 2020
I'm not picking on Aslan, really, so much as people in relative positions of power generally who do momentarily express the idea that things are fucked up and bullshit and should not be approached in the normal ways, and then quickly return to normality.
For people who do think that Trump, the people around him, and the Republicans and conservatives who enabled him to varying to degrees, crossed some sort of line, what they can do going forward is to not forget, and to continue to treat those people with the disdain and disgust and disrespect that they deserve.
You do not ever have to hand it to them. You do not ever have to invite them on your teevee shows. You do not have to agree to appear with them on teevee shows. You do not ever have to treat them as good faith political actors. You do not have to call them up for quotes for your news stories. You do not have to mention them in the future without mentioning their role in all of this. You do not have to treat them as polite members of society, for they are not.
That doesn't burn things down, but it does provide some minor consequences to the people who will otherwise do this again.