The February issue of VILLAGE magazine (out of Dublin, Ireland) is creating quite a buzz.  It shows crosshairs on Donald Trump’s head, with the provocative words “Why Not?”, raising the question: is assassinating the President of the Untied States worth considering?

This disturbing cover created a social media backlash against the magazine.  But Editor Michael Smith has strongly denied the allegation that the cover is supporting the assassination of President Trump.   Apparently, the article concludes, after considering arguments both pro and con, that such a solution is not a good idea.

One of my 36 Cover Rules is, Rule #6:  Be Controversial.

But perhaps the cover isn’t as controversial as critics might think.  After all, musicians such as Madonna and Big Sean have mused about taking out Trump.  Madonna gave a speech where she said that she “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”   And Big Sean rapped on a live radio show the following words, ” I might just kill ISIS with the same icepick / That I murder Donald Trump in the same night with.”  And apparently, according to an article on Mashable, there are over 12,000 tweets on Twitter that have called for the new president’s assassination.

Perhaps the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity still applies in the era of “click bait”.