Witches aren’t thrilled with President Donald Trump’s repeated use of the term “witch hunt” to describe special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
According to an article published Monday by The Daily Beast, a number of practicing witches have voiced concern over the president’s use of the term, saying essentially that he was trivializing the worst point in their history to score political points.
Actual witch hunts have left what witchcraft author Kitty Randall, who uses the name “Amber K.” in the witching world, calls a “traumatic emotional imprint” on modern-day witches.
“To have him compare his situation to the worst period in our history is just infuriating,” Randall said.
Trump has used the term dozens of times on Twitter and on live television — and most people probably assume that, rather than a literal hunt for practicing witches, he intends it to reflect Merriam-Webster’s secondary definition:
Witch hunt: the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (such as political opponents) with unpopular views
Witches make their way down the parade route during the 23rd Annual Salem Chamber of Commerce Haunted Happenings Grand Parade, which launches the Halloween season in Salem, Massachusetts, on October 4, 2018. JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images
Regardless, according to David Salisbury of Washington’s Firefly House witch community, “Many are mad, and the rest are rolling their eyes.” (RELATED: Witches Now Outnumber Presbyterians In The US)
But not all witches feel the same way. As St. Louis-based witch Becky Noble told The Daily Caller, “I have found a pretty healthy community of conservative Pagans out there. As usual, I suspect it is only a select few who think they are speaking for all of us.”
Another practicing Wiccan who asked to remain anonymous told TheDC, “An old figure of speech is nothing I’m worried about. I have bigger fish to fry in my own pond … I do wish the people would put this much effort into sex trafficking. I wish the people crying over offensive speech would put more effort into worthwhile causes.”