I'm not jerking your chain, Rob. West is using the classic techniques of a demagogue to incite people to violence while fudging his words just enough to maintain the tiniest of figleaves of deniability. Remember that he was speaking to a crowd with a lot of exservicepeople; in that context, his heavy emphasis on martial imagery and continual references to weaponry is clearly designed to push a particular set of buttons. His words and imagery are very violent.

Can you think of a use for a bayonet other than killing? If he meant some kind of surgical metaphor, he'd have said "scalpel". If his metaphor was about cutting the pie more fairly, he could've referred to a table knife. Hell, if he'd been shooting for something erudite like the Gordian Knot, he'd have referred to a sword.

But he referred to a bayonet. Twice. A weapon invented for the sole purpose of inflicting horrific sucking wounds on an enemy.

You don't see the threat of violence there?