For an alternate viewpoint, see “Counterpoint: Assassination Attempt Will Not Be the End of Leftist Violence.”
Sadly, political violence is as old as politics itself, around the globe and, yes, in the United States. However, the last decade has seen a marked increase, especially in the United States.
Rhetorically, one might argue — and those on the political right will — that heated words and actions that could lead to political violence originate from the broad spectrum of ideologies. Agreed, but it is hard to ignore the focused and brazen words and images coming from the political right.
Fueled by a decade’s-long pugilistic legislative style, the ease and anonymity of online conspiracies and threats, and the rise of an elected political class determined to stoke the flames of discontent, the political right is not just encouraging violence, but it seems to have become a central plank of its ideology.
Republican members of Congress, not crackpot internet trolls, have repeatedly made online posts and even campaign videos encouraging violence against political opponents. Often using assault weapons and targets for props, they talk about eliminating perceived “threats,” vilifying specific opponents repeatedly and using their official time in Congress, such as floor speeches, to spread inflammatory conspiracies.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Mike Collins and Paul Gosar come to mind. Still, there are many others who have used words and imagery to allude to violence. Perhaps they think this is just an efficient way to convey “strength” or elicit generalized disagreement with their political opponents, but it’s not hard to see how these actions magnify throughout the internet, finding their way to militant elements of the political right.
While Democrats and those on the political left do use words that can elicit emotional responses, the sheer volume coming from the right drowns this out tenfold. You also don’t see the left producing anything approaching the level of explicit references to violence that comes from the right.
We haven’t talked about the “spiritual” leader of this yet. Former president Donald Trump has made vilification and references to violence against his perceived opponents a predictably regular menu item on social media and in his speeches since he first entered the political arena.
Trump has repeatedly said this or that group of people should be “shot”; called for the execution of people he disagreed with or who disagreed with him; constantly dehumanized a wide range of people but predominantly minority groups; and fomented the gathering near and the march on the Capitol that ended in a violent insurrection.
Trump as president, and since his 2020 defeat, has also continually sidled up to and sided with violent authoritarians in other countries. His perpetual personal grievances permeate throughout his political base.
This constant and reckless approach does have consequences. Recent calls for unity, followed closely by Trump and his allies with further inflammatory language (and fund-raising appeals!), fall well short of a change of heart even in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt that could have taken his life.
And now, the opening speaker at the Republican National Convention, which started AFTER the shooting at the Trump rally and his lukewarm calls for unity, recently said that “some folks need killing” in a rant about political enemies. Not only was he chosen by the political right, the Republican Party, to kick off its national convention but Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is also a candidate for governor of North Carolina.
Yes, everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to cool off and take care of their words. The political right has, though, been pointing their fingers at the left over the past several days without an ounce of self-recognition or even a whisper about much-needed gun restrictions. We will not make any progress toward the elimination of political or gun violence if the political right, clearly more active in encouraging violence, does not join the political left in disarming.
