By Douglas V. Gibbs
Remember when you played cops and robbers as kids? There was never any doubt who the good guys and bad guys were. If you steal? Bad. Liars? Bad. Soldiers from armies trying to take over the world? Bad. Americans versus Commies? The socialist commies were the bad guys. The ones who wanted to kill their opposition? Bad guy for sure. There was no question that the socialist goose-stepping commies who wished to kill anyone who got in the way of their lust for power were the bad guys. Even as kids, nobody had to tell us who the good guys were, and who the bad guys were.
There were no assassination attempts against Presidents Obama and Biden by deranged, gun-wielding conservatives because true conservatives are not violent by nature, and there is no public rhetoric from the Republican Party activating any crazy radicals that may or may not exist in conservative MAGA ranks. Sure, I have no doubt those presidents received death threats. Every group has its crazies. But Republicans tend not to be the breeding ground for violent political killers. Pretty much every mass shooting has been by crazed leftists, after all – and lately by woke trans-individuals who have bought into the ungodly transgender agenda. Of course, lefties always default to January 6 to try to prove there is such thing as violent Trump supporters – which means they had to manufacture it with agitation and a production that Hollywood might be jealous of in order to show that anyone other than them might have a politically violent bone in their body.
There have been three assassination attempts against President Trump (that we know of), and Republicans have been pointing at Democrats for their dangerous rhetoric that many believe is instigating the political violence.
There’s an old saying. Dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire. Violent rhetoric is the same. The language of violence coming out of the mouths of Democrats is a verbal expression of a physical desire. They claim Trump is a modern-day Hitler, they call for “Maximum Warfare,” and to be honest their violent rhetoric is becoming a popular feature among candidates in the Democratic primaries.
While Democrats say they condemn the violence that has led to the assassination of Charlie Kirk and multiple attempts on the life of President Trump out of one side of their mouths, the fantasies of murder continue to escape from the other side. In 2022, Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones texted about putting “two bullets in the head” of a former Virginia Republican House speaker, and wishing gun violence upon the man’s children. Democrat Eugene Vindman re-endorsed Jones’ after the text came to light, not viewing the violent rhetoric as a disqualifier for political office. Virginia Democrats then overwhelmingly elected Jones, along with Abby Spanberger for governor (who campaigned as a moderate, but has been anything, but), and Ghazala Hashmi for lieutenant governor.
Former administration staffer Maura Sullivan posed with a man holding a sign that included “86 47,” radical left shorthand for “86-ing” (getting rid of or killing President Trump) as first encouraged by former FBI Director James Comey’s seashells post on social media.
In Maine’s Senate race, Democrat candidate Graham Platner has suggested that violence is a justifiable means to forwarding social change. He’s running against longtime Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins, and has since deleted his comments posted on Reddit. He wrote that if people “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history. [A]n armed working class is a requirement for economic justice” Platner, described himself at the time as a “communist” and expressed a loathing for all police officers. This is the same Democrat who once had a Nazi symbol on his chest, but shrugged it off as fellow democrats rallied around him.
Leftist lawyer-turned-TV reporter Mike Sacks has not only called for defunding ICE, but while calling Trump adviser Stephen Miller a fascist, added (paraphrasing a Michelle Obama mantra), “When they go low, we kick them in the teeth.” Jolanda Jones, a Texas Democrat, used the same Michelle Obama slogan, but said, “If they go low, I’m going to the gutter.” She then urged Democrats to “fight ugly.”
According to an NBC News poll, 60% of registered voters believe “extreme political rhetoric” was a key contributor in Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Republicans blamed rhetoric by the widest margin – Democrats not so much.
Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told the Federalist in an email, “Voters are waking up to just how reckless and unfit this party has become.”
I hope so.
A leftist Wisconsin brewery owner is promising free beer on the day President Trump’s death is on the minds of federal law enforcement officials, urging the next would-be Trump assassin to improve his “marksmanship.” “Well, we almost got #freebeerday,” Bangstad wrote in now-deleted posts after a gunman stormed past a security post, set on murdering President Donald Trump and administration officials in attendance at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
And, let’s not forget Madonna dreaming of blowing up the White House.
President Trump is not the first Republican to receive this kind of rhetoric, though it seems to be on steroids with 45/47. On July 11, 2007, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams gave a keynote speech to the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas, Texas, remarking with laughter and applause from the audience, “I mean right now, I could kill George Bush, no problem…I would love to be able to do that.”
And while the word “kill” is likely used by opponents of every President, an American Thinker study revealed the word “kill,” and its derivates used within the same sentence has appeared as follows for three of our recent Presidents:
Bush in 2001: 1,280
Obama in 2009: 2,608
Trump in 2017: 7,890
These usages occurred within the first six months of their respective presidencies according to the Lexis-Nexis database.
Republican Presidents, and John F. Kennedy who would definitely be considered a Republican today, who were assassinated or subjected to attempted assassination all were victims of repeated calls for political violence against them. If history reveals anything, it is that when our political and academic culture is creating violent pro-assassination rhetoric, it creates a cultish desire among their followers to carry out the violence.
The line between words and weapons has been dangerously erased, and the consequences are now playing out in blood. As the body count rises and assassination attempts become a terrifyingly regular news cycle, the left’s violent rhetoric is no longer just background noise – it’s a loaded weapon pointed at the heart of our republic. History has shown us that when a political culture normalizes calls for murder, it inevitably produces murderers willing to answer that call. The question is no longer whether this dangerous language will lead to more violence, but how many more lives will be shattered before we acknowledge that words have consequences and those who incite murder must be held accountable before their fantasies become our reality.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
