I recently asked, in light of the free speech implications of the second federal Trump indictment, when the price is too high for those who seek to jail the former president. The chilling answer is found in a new report out of the University of Chicago showing that almost 12 percent of the population, representing 30 million people, believe that violence is warranted to prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. That is almost double the number who believe that violence is warranted to ensure that Trump does become president.
As discussed in The Guardian, the Chicago Project on Security & Threats survey found many Americans are embracing violence as an option for political change.
We have watched as rage has risen in the country. It is often celebrated by one side or the other. I previously discussed how a scene like the recent confrontation on the floor of the Tennessee House perfectly captured our “age of rage.” Protesters filled the capitol building to protest the failure to pass gun-control legislation. Three Democratic state representatives — Justin Jones from Nashville, Justin Pearson from Memphis, and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville — were unwilling to yield to the majority. They disrupted the floor proceedings with a bullhorn and screaming at their colleagues.
It is a scene familiar to many of us in academia, where events are regularly canceled by those who shout down others. The three members yelled “No action, no peace” and “Power to the people” as their colleagues objected to their stopping the legislative process. Undeterred, the three refused to allow “business as usual” to continue.
Nobel Laureate Albert Camus once said, “Insurrection is certainly not the sum total of human experience but … it is our historic reality.” Those words came to mind when Tennessee’s House of Representatives expelled two members accused of disrupting legislative proceedings in what some called an “insurrection” or a “mutiny.”
Only a few days before the Tennessee House floor fight, a confrontation occurred off the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington which captured perfectly this new political reality.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was shown on videotape screaming about gun control in the Capitol as his colleagues left the floor following a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), tried to calm Bowman. However, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked Bowman to stop yelling, Bowman shouted back: “I was screaming before you interrupted me” — which could go down as the epitaph for our age.
The problem is that political figures on both sides are attempting to harness this rage. They are playing a dangerous game. Trump’s inflammatory tweets are an example. Likewise, former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany. His son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa as riots raged in his city last summer.
Unleashing such rage is difficult to control and often those leading the mob find themselves later pursued by it. This is why, during the French Revolution, the journalist Jacques Mallet Pan warned, “Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children.”
‘Rage’? ……. More on the left? …… Of course …… the ‘rage’ is from the demons that possess these people (few of whom realize it) ……. And though these people are on both the left and right, the bulk are on the left, as is demonstrated with their approval of debauchery and lawbreaking. …….. ‘Trump’ is the biggest ‘mortal enemy’ of these demons, and they are lashing out. …… Simple.
Evidently you only read the headline. And, I bet, you didn’t actually hear Trump’s speech, but the edited ABC version that conflated a call to keep fighting with going to the capitol. Oh, yes, and why do you not question the FBI investigating the Trump supporter when the Secret Service is in charge of the president’s security? Something is surely amiss in that action.
Sorry Professor Turley, the use violence is asymmetrical. Violence on the right is typically perpetrated by isolated mentally deranged individuals. Even the the limited violence of the January 6 protests was limited to a few individuals. In contras, on the left, violence is either outright encouraged or enabled. The little thug Senate Majority Leader essentially threatened violence against the SC. Pelosi had no problem with destruction of historical statutes as she was quoted as saying “people will do what people do”. Violence against both people and property seem just fine with these modern versions of Stalinist thugs that run the Democratic Party. I dont see an end to it. At some point the unwashed masses will really rebel and your angry well armed construction worker, plumber, and other working class stiffs will begin to fight back as they begin to understand that these elite “Marxists” are taking away their freedoms one by one while those elites live lives of the Aristocracy. It could well be another civil war, albeit one in which the real proletariat vanquishes the arrogant hypocritical elites. It just might not be a bad thing in the long run I say this as some one who attended U of Chicago and graduated from an advanced degree program at an Ivy league University (all on scholarship)
Swing and a miss!
“Free speech” does NOT include interferring the free-speech rights of others, including both the right to speak and the right to hear others speak.
The idea of free speech includes being heard. One giving a speech assumes an audience. As I recall, there is even a recent court case where this has been pointed out.
It also assumes a civil audience.
People who claim it is their 1stA right to shout down someone from speaking even when others in the audience want to hear what the speaker has to say, are the ones who are the most uncivil and violent.
Claiming that a person has a right to speak but not be heard is like saying a person has a right to eat but not swallow.
ATS
No law prevents it. Only common decency and the belief that others deserve to be heard. If you want to debate and legislate, become a politician. If you want to act like a thug and use “protest” to disrupt proceedings, become an activist. If your protest serves no useful purpose other than to silence an opposing view, don’t expect to be taken seriously or accepted as anything other that the thug u are.
Tom,
Well said.
That is why we see the tendency of leftists to resort to violence to silence others. They are so fearful of an opposing view to be heard they cannot allow it to be heard.
The no-right-to-be-heard interpretation of the Constitution will be cast aside at the speed of light the day conservatives start an organized movement to shout down people speaking in support of gender-affirming drugs, hormones, and surgery for minor children.
In the days preceding January 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused Trump’s offer of thousands of federal troops to prevent violence at the Capitol on January 6. The only people who died on January 6 were Trump supporters.
“Trump didn’t offer anything. That claim has been debunked long ago.”
There is that phrase again. The lefts answer for any narrative they dont like. Debunked my a$$.
“An official timeline of the Jan. 6 tragedy assembled by Capitol Police shows that a Defense Department official reached out to a Capitol Police deputy chief, Sean Gallagher, on Jan. 2, 2021 to see if a request for troops was forthcoming, but the offer was quickly rejected after a consultation with then-Chief Steve Sund.”
“Trump didn’t offer anything. That claim has been debunked long ago.”
The Chief of the Capitol Police at the time disgrees with you. His interview with Tucker is informative.
𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄, 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄!
To choose 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐨 for the 2024 DNC Convention
San Francisco, L.A., Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Memphis, Baltimore.
All better places to hold this Functions.
It’s like pouring Gasoline on a Fire 🔥
[Link://]democrats.org/news/dnc-announces-chicago-to-host-2024-democratic-national-convention/
[Link://]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Democratic_National_Convention
[Link://]chicago2024.com/
“Pouring gasoline on a fire” is EXACTLY what democrats WANT to do. It’s what they’ve been doing since the unprosecuted multiple felon formerly known as “Hillary in a landslide” have been doing since 2016.
“They are playing a dangerous game.” (JT)
That civilization-destroying “game” has a long, deadly history — and a name: The use of physical force to settle disputes. By another name, it’s called “might makes right.”
It is the abandonment of free speech as a bedrock principle. Worse, it is the result of a culture that has abandoned reason.
John you meant “From” not “for”!
Fascist Democrats use EVERY tool for power and money.
The ONLY solution is TAKE AWAY THEIR MONEY
End all federal aid/loans to colleges, cities and states
a 5% tax on all Wall Street Transactions or moving money OFFSHORE
TAX all non-profits where ANYONE GETS $100k or more
everything is financialized…and USED against the people!
Don’t get me wrong, but Democrats think saying something they don’t agree with is an act of violence so tat might explain the survey. To quote Mike Tyson, …”Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face”.
The new “Age of Rage” shouts down anyone with whom they disagree. Reminds me G.K. Chesterton who said “when people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights”. I think they already have in today’s Amerika. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
Grat quote! Just look at how the Leftist’s in the political class and the media treat the citizens as less than dignified and undeserving of the truth. Well, conservatives will first try the dignified response and when that fails, they will turn to a more chivalrous response.
Professor Turley is right. The Left justified violence by feigning rage.
You can not go wrong with G.K. Chesterton. Few young Americans read his wonderful works today, to their great poverty. His book on St Francis of Assisi is golden because it provides insight to Chesterton’s conversion to Catholicism and the life of the second greatest Catholic Saint.
Yesterday I posted a comment that was factually true, cited a news media link and referenced a statement by a state governor. Not 20 minutes later, a Leftist railed against Professor Turley for allowing my comment on his forum. Worse, I was called a BOT. 😎
The reply failed to engage the substance of my post or the facts. It was a reply driven by rage for allowing free speech and diverse opinions. Marxists are like that which is why America’s Left/ Democrats have adopted violence to get their way since Trump’s inauguration. Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, et al should be investigated by a special counsel, appointed by SCOTUS, to see if they incited violence and engaged in hate speech.
Here was my post from yesterday and the reply:
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/08/13/shoeless-joe-and-the-fixing-of-the-biden-scandal/comment-page-3/#comment-2312713
Estovir says: August 13, 2023 at 6:20 PM
The chances of Leftists politicians (aka Marxists) reversing a history of crime in an organization or geographic locations, are as likely as a George Soros funded prosecutor pressing charges against violent offenders in a black locale in order to protect said black residents. Not going to happen. Washington DC is exploding like a hell hole with black violent crime >30% YTD 2023 compared to 2022. And this from a Black mayor, Leftist. Of course.
Likewise, Orlando/Orange County, Florida has seen a spike in violent crime while a George Soros funded prosecutor, State Attorney Monique Worrell, elected by residents of that region, turned her back on black voters and unleashed violent criminals to murder the very voters who placed her in office. Thankfully Governor Ron DeSantis, an experienced prosecutor himself, had the power under the State Constitution of Florida, to fire the George Soros prosecutor for enabling violent criminals to murder black Floridians.
Merrick Garland will enable the Biden Crime Syndicate to do what Joe Biden has always done: grift.
George Soros funded prosecutors = Merrick Garland appointed prosecutors. Cut from the same red cloth
Worrell’s Misconduct Enabled Murder of Young Women and Children, Governor’s Office Says
https://www.theflstandard.com/worrells-misconduct-enabled-murder-of-young-women-and-children-governors-office-says/
ORLANDO, FLORIDA — The governor’s office has provided details on ten cases that motivated Worrell’s suspension. Several of them detail tragic consequences of dangerous criminals being allowed to roam free despite prior felonies, only to cause more murder and mayhem.
Two of the most heinous crimes that the perpetrators were able to commit as a direct result of Worrell’s failure to prosecute involve young men murdering their partners.
Reply
Daniel Cabot says: August 13, 2023 at 6:38 PM
“Leftist politicians (aka Marxists)” and “Biden Crime Syndicate”? This ‘reply’ under the guise of lauding DeSantis for firing a “George Soros prosecutor for enabling violent criminals to murder black Floridians[]” is suggestive of a BOT post. As if you, Turley, give a Sh-t!
Estovir,
I read that comment this morning.
Seems to me our leftist friends are getting desperate. Not only are they ratcheting up the Jan6th ‘whataboutism,’ the poll exposes their true nature. They are desperate to deflect from their own admitting what most already knew.
When a woke left Marxist tells you they support censorship and the use of violence to attain their agenda, believe them.
– The left supports the intentional killing of over half a million unborn American children every year.
– The left supports the war in Europe that has killed hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians.
– The left supports wide-open immigration policies leading the rape and enslavement of women and children and about 100,000 fentanyl deaths each year.
– The left supports reckless SWAT team invasions of the homes of non-violent conservative Americans, sometimes leading to them being shot dead.
– The left supported the intentional shooting death by Capitol Police of petite, unarmed Air Force veteran and Trump supporter Ashley Babbitt on January 6, 2021.
– It is no surprise that many on the left would support violence to prevent the election of Donald Trump.
I don’t believe the Chicago survey. Thirty million people would mean the entire Democratic Party would resort to violence to keep Trump out of office. I don’t believe it.
The University of Chicago did not say how many people supporting violence to stop Trump were members of the Democratic Party. Joe Biden got 81 million votes, officially, in 2020.
I cannot believe Biden won for the simple reason there was not one FORENSIC AUDIT of the contested results in Michigan,Wisconsin,Georgia, and especially Arizona where the chain of custody made an audit impossible.
More than half of those votes were from dead voters. Clearly Democrats do believe in the resurrection or zombies or whatever it takes
Not sure any serious person should rely on a “report” out of the University of Chicago.
Protests, even disruptive ones, even annoying and loud ones, are not violence, and in no way comparable to what the Trump want to do to keep him in power. Violence to install a leader is clearly a coup. Turley’s effort of “both sides do it” is lame and another sign of his partisanship.
If protesters at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, were trying to use violence to keep Trump in power, they would have brought weapons and they wouldn’t have gone home after a couple of hours. You’re obviously referring to antifa and the undercover agents provocateurs sent in by the FBI on January 6, 2021. There was no coup and no violence aimed at keeping Trump in power. Stop spewing hyperbolic nonsense.
1. Violence or weapons is not a required component of a coup or attempted coup.
2. The rioters in the Capital were only one small part of the attempted coup. The rest was spearheaded by Trump and his “legal team”.
“The problem is that political figures on both sides are attempting to harness this rage.”
That’s at least partly because the scum-sucking MEDIA glorifies anger, violence, and all manners of conflict and disruption, so “political figures” naturally gravitate to whatever the garbage media is inclined to cover. The media is in a perpetual race to the bottom, and anger, violence, and various forms of outrageous proclamations and UTTER NONSENSE are the goose that lays the garbage media’s golden eggs — I mean, when the garbage media isn’t exploiting sex, such as at the bikini-tabloid called the NY Post.
It’s also laughable that the Professor picks out Trump as an example on one side, but then goes dumpster diving into obscurity to pick Keith Ellison as the example on the other side — as if there isn’t someone holding a higher office stoking the flames opposing Trump.
Turley’s personal progress always seems to be one step forward, then two steps back — still clinging to that Michael Avenatti hatred of Trump.
First off, Demos and Repos are great at lying. JT seems fine with the first amendment implications of lying but the reality is that when political leaders lie we end up with a terrible society.
The ex President of the United States, while President, lied about our election, and he knew he was lying. Regarding gun control, the Right says that more guns keeps you safer. This is a lie, More guns makes society unsafe. Court cases have been won on the assumption that owning a gun is a right not only due to the 2nd amendment, but because protecting yourself is a fundamental right and the gun will make you safer. This is a lie, owning the gun means you are more likely to be harmed by a gun. And the more guns in society, the higher the risk is.
So when the right used violence to keep the man in power who had just lost the election. Yea, a lot of people woke up the fact that those on the right are willing to use violence to stay in power when the votes go against them. So perhaps those that want to use violence to keep trump in power are just reacting to the violence that used used, based on a lie, to keep him in power.
JT, help society, quit justifying lies by politicians as a 1st amendment right and instead do what is best for society.
Trump did more then lie. He spearheaded an effort to take illegal actions to keep him in power. There is a new report that he was behind the efforts to illegally access voting machines.
Is this part of the illegal scheme?
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2023/08/13/cnn-trump-lawyers-received-written-invitation-to-inspect-ga-voting-machines/
Or was that invitation just another setup for future headlines like Pelosi’s rejection of Trump’s offer for added security and the hordes of fed agitators implanted in the crowd on Jan 6th?
What a shitty game.
Trump’s supporters are planning to commit fraud with the voting machines, if they haven’t already. It is time to go to hand-marked, hand-counted ballots.
Got prof of that? Be great to see what are the vulnerabilities of those machines.
And I agree, hand marked and hand counted ballots with some kind of voter ID.
Not disarming myself to make you, or anyone else feel safer. I DO NOT outsource my protection to anyone else, particularly an employee of government, particularly when it is becoming more and more apparent it is government itself we are going to need protection from.
Oh please. There are so many examples of fraud in this past election it screams at you. The fact that the courts won’t even look at the evidence is what is wrong with elections today. The vitriolic hatred drummed up by the media and left wing opponents, is ridiculous, without foundation. It’s ok to not like his personality. Every time they drum up some other accusation to nail him, it is found to be not true. They know it, and the propaganda allows them to run with it. And no one is punished for the lies used to accuse him. They may get him in jail this time, but not because he has done something wrong, but because they are trying his unfounded case in D.C. where they form an amoeba growth movement to all vote for the Democrat no matter how non compos mentis, no matter how much they have used government employment to enrich their pocketbooks, no matter how often they perform the acts they accuse Trump of, they vote as 1. The judge is a known Trump hater, and has given unfounded sentences to January 6 protestors. Even more than was recommended. The jury pool will be all Democrats as that is all that resides in D.C. The prosecutor is a Trump hating liar, who lost his only case presented to the Supreme Court. He is a hired gun who comes up with one phony charge, changes the wording 30 some times on the same charge, and acts like there is a long list of indiscretions. When everything they have accused him of, is something the Biden Crime Family, the Clinton’s and the Obama’s are guilty of. And I wasn’t a Trump supporter until how I witnessed the plot to destroy him from day one. And their minions even admit it, and are not punished in any way. This constant barrage of indictments every time another Biden crime is uncovered (which would have been a lot sooner if all the agencies didn’t use their power to hide the evidence) is an attempt to keep him from running. Why? Because he is like JFK and threatens to dismantle their 3 letter corrupt organizations. We all know what happened to him and his brother after him.
To those of you who who despise the 1st and 2nd ammendments, the US Constitution contains its own prescription for updates. When lefties bemoan the fact that making changes is too difficult I remind them that the barrier is by design – an anti-mob provision. You are the mob.
Keep Trump *from* power? Is that what the title was supposed to be? I’m not jumping on every typo but the titles are important.
Wonder what his legal briefs look like?
Sounds like a receipt for Civil War/Upheaval. The left will eat its own. 700 million guns. Stolen election. Trump revenge tour. Half the country hates the other half. Confusion in the culture. Defund the police. No one is talking anyone’s guns.
The left has baked the cake. Just waiting for the candle to be lit.
They are the FASCISTS they are looking for.
Professor Turley describes it as the “age of rage” because he doesn’t want to come off as partisan. I think Wen–who can afford to be more candid–has it right: it’s the age of gaslighting. Fascists, STASI, Jacobins, Khmer Rouge: we’ve seen it all before.
The revolution eats its own because it runs out of scapegoats, and our current crop of cannibals will be no exception.
“[M]any Americans are embracing violence as an option for political change.” (JT)
Exhibit A: BLM/Antifa and their Leftist enablers.
actually BLM/Antifa, etc are JUST tools….the enablers are the FEDs and Billionaires…follow the MONEY!