Donald Trump has survived his second assassination attempt in as many months. The first attempt, in Butler, Pennsylvania, left Trump bloodied in front of a large crowd. Cameras captured the real estate tycoon’s defiant reaction.
For years, Democratic politicians and the media had escalated their rhetoric against the presidential candidate, frequently comparing him to Hitler and labeling him an existential threat to democracy. The chattering class continued to express their hatred, but for at least a few weeks, they seemed to recognize the need to tone things down.
The media has been grooming radicals for years, hoping someone would eventually kill Donald Trump.
With a second gunman attempting to take Trump’s life, the left has dropped any pretense of moderation. Progressives have embraced the idea that Trump is responsible for the attacks on his own life, further escalating their rhetorical justifications. They’ve decided that political violence should become a regular feature of American life — and that only one side should wield it.
The shooting in Pennsylvania this past July occurred at a public rally, making the events well-documented. However, the shooter remained intentionally shrouded in mystery. Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old involved, had a suspiciously thin social media presence, and officials seemed determined to obscure his motives. The FBI even lied under oath about his internet postings.
Trump’s most recent assailant, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, has a more visible public profile filled with political opinions. Routh’s politics are clear: He displayed a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and made 19 donations to Democratic causes. A strong supporter of the war in Ukraine, he even spoke to the New York Times and appeared in an Azov Brigade propaganda video, where he expressed his willingness to recruit and fight for the foreign nation.
Despite a checkered legal history, including a standoff with police involving a fully automatic weapon, Routh was somehow permitted to travel to Ukraine in 2022. He intended to serve in the foreign legion but was rejected because of his age.
Both Facebook and Twitter took down the shooter’s social media accounts, but before they were scrubbed, users captured several posts. In these posts, Routh echoed the rhetoric of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, claiming that “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot, and we cannot lose.”
While more information will likely emerge, it’s already clear that Routh was a regular consumer and firm believer in the radicalizing propaganda frequently pushed by MSNBC and the White House. When liberal influencers compared Trump to Hitler, Routh took them seriously. When they said Trump was an existential threat to the country who couldn’t be allowed to return to office, Routh took action.
The media has been grooming radicals for years, hoping someone would eventually kill Donald Trump. In my piece written after the first Trump assassination attempt, I detailed this process and predicted that the left would continue this pattern until another shooter succeeded in murdering the former president.
The fact that the left no longer feels the need to tap the brakes after a second assassination attempt is a terrible sign. After Democrats failed to remove Trump from the ballot or jail him on fabricated charges, Joe Biden lost the first presidential debate. Despite this defeat, Biden ignored calls from his own party to step aside and vowed to continue his run.
It wasn’t until the first assassin failed to kill Trump that Biden finally relinquished his candidacy. He did so through a random post on Twitter, with no personal verification, which I’m sure was totally voluntary.
Trump managed to defeat Kamala Harris in the second presidential debate, despite facing not only his Democratic opponent but also the two ABC moderators. Another devastating debate loss, and yet another assassination attempt followed. Progressives, unable to compete in traditional electoral politics, are creating a climate of political terror. They jail their opponents when possible and resort to assassination when that fails.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time left-wing political terror has dominated the American landscape. In 1901, an anarchist assassinated President William McKinley. The 1970s saw a wave of left-wing terror, with over 2,000 bombs planted in 1972 alone by radical progressives. This normalization of political violence from the left has been largely erased from public memory, while many of the perpetrators have been elevated to prestigious positions within the ruling elite. Bill Ayers, a leader of the radical Weather Underground, became a professor at the University of Chicago and a mentor to Barack Obama.
The left has always celebrated and elevated its radicals, including terrorists, and it is now seeking a return to a climate dominated by political violence.
In the 1930s, Spain was engulfed in political turmoil. Various factions, from communists to liberals, monarchists to fascists, co-existed. These groups eventually formed two distinct coalitions representing the broader left and right. The deep cultural divide was fueled by incendiary political rhetoric, and assassination attempts became common. The Spanish prime minister and several party leaders were killed, leading to the formation of partisan militias and the eventual declaration of formal hostilities.
When one political faction decides violence is an acceptable tactic, their opponents’ options quickly narrow. The left uses its media dominance and institutional power to portray Trump as an agent of division and hate. But when bullets are flying in only one direction, it becomes obvious which side is responsible for the political violence that has become routine.
If progressives continue feeding their supporters a steady diet of apocalyptic rhetoric designed to provoke extreme reactions, a portion of that audience will take it seriously. The left is so self-righteous in its beliefs and so confident in its power that leftists genuinely think they can encourage multiple assassination attempts on the opposition candidate without facing any consequences.
Democratic politicians and their media allies are treading on extremely dangerous ground. This kind of escalation is a disastrous game with no winners. If any cooler heads remain on the political left, they must stop their party’s embrace of political violence. The path they’re speeding down leads only to a terrible outcome, one that no true patriot would want for this country.
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