Below is my Hill column on the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump. We all watched as the horrific scene unfolded on television. It was a traumatic moment for the entire country, but it was hardly surprising given this age of rage. We are still learning about the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He was able to use a roof top 130 yards away from the rally for the assassination attempt. He is being described as a registered Republican but donated to a Democratic political organization.
Here is the column:
The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump left a nation stunned. But the most shocking aspect was that it was not nearly as surprising as it should have been. For months, politicians, the press and pundits have escalated reckless rhetoric in this campaign on both sides. That includes claims that Trump was set to kill democracy, unleash “death squads” and make homosexuals and reporters “disappear.”
President Biden has stoked this rage rhetoric. In 2022, Biden held his controversial speech before Independence Hall where he denounced Trump supporters as enemies of the people. Biden recently referenced the speech and has embraced the claims that this could be our last democratic election.
I discuss this rage rhetoric in my new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” We are living through an age of rage. It is not our first, but it may be the most dangerous such period in our history.
Some of us have been objecting for years that this rage rhetoric is a dangerous political pitch for the nation. While most people reject the hyperbolic claims, others take it as true. They believe that homosexuals are going to be “disappeared” as claimed on ABC’s “The View” or that the Trump “death squads” are now green lighted by a conservative Supreme Court, as claimed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
Rage is addictive and contagious. It is also liberating. It allows people a sense of license to take actions that would ordinarily be viewed as repulsive.
As soon as Trump was elected, unhinged rage became the norm as with Kathy Griffin featuring herself holding the bloody severed head of Trump.
Just recently, another celebrity, actress Lea DeLaria, begged Biden to “blow [Trump] up” after the recent presidential immunity decision. DeLaria explained that “this is a **** war. This is a war now, and we are fighting for our **** country. And these a**holes are going to take it away. They’re going to take it away.”
For months, people have heard politicians and press call Trump “Hitler” and the GOP a Nazi movement. Some compared stopping Trump to stopping Hitler in 1933. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) declared Trump “is not only unfit, he is destructive to our democracy and he has to be eliminated.” He later apologized.
Others say that Trump “will destroy the world” unless he is stopped.
I do not believe that the politicians or pundits engaging in what my book calls “rage rhetoric” want actual violence. But they have knowingly created conditions for extremist views and, yes, extremist actions.
The media has been quick to denounce reckless rhetoric from the right while largely ignoring the same language on the left. That included threats against conservative Supreme Court justices before the assassination plot against Brett Kavanaugh.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) went to the steps of the Supreme Court and called out Kavanaugh by name: “I want to tell you, (Justice Neil) Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Again, I do not believe that Schumer wanted Nicholas Roske to go to the home of Justice Kavanaugh to kill him. However, these politicians also know that some citizens will hear this rhetoric as a justification for violent conduct.
Thus, when the president is claiming that the election may end democracy in the nation, it can be heard as much as a license as a warning, particularly when he adds “we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
We still do not know about the shooter in this assassination attempt. However, we know all too well how unhinged people can find justification in the incendiary rhetoric of our politics. This moment did not occur in a vacuum; it occurred in a time when our leaders long abandoned reason for rage.
We have come full circle to where we began as a Republic. In the 1800 election, Federalists and Jeffersonians engaged in similar rage rhetoric.
Federalists told citizens that, if Jefferson were elected, “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes.”
Jeffersonians warned that, if Adams were reelected, “chains, dungeons, transportation, and perhaps the gibbet” awaited citizens and they “would instantaneously be put to death.”
Both sides stoked the anger and fears of the public, and violence was seen across the nation.
In our current age of rage, politicians have sought to use the same anger and fear to rally support at any cost.
This is the cost.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage” (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).
Biden sent his VP Trump a get well soon card so everyone calm down.
Joe Biden
@JoeBiden
“Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation.
He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
1:42 PM · Jun 28, 2024
·
5.1M
Views
What they mean is Trump is “literally” a threat to everything THEY stand for.
We have a demented puppet in the White House who is trampling the Constitution,
ignoring the Rule of Law,
weaponizing and politicizing every institution,
threatening and defying the Supreme Court,
literally jailing his political enemies, opponents, dissidents,
threatening more than half the voters in this country calling us “domestic terrorists,”
censoring and trampling our freedom of speech, our freedom to assemble, to seek redress,
pumping billions into a corrupt war machine,
opening our borders, flying illegals all across the country, giving them SS numbers, all kinds of benefits, allowing them to vote in our elections, etc.
People are dying BECAUSE of Biden’s policies.
Police are getting killed BECAUSE of Democrat policies.
Soldiers are getting killed BECAUSE of Biden’s policies.
People are unsafe BECAUSE of Biden’s policies.
People are suffering BECAUSE of Biden’s policies.
But Trump is the threat? Trump supporter are the threat?
Yes he is a threat — to YOUR very agenda — which is clearly to DESTROY America and everything we stand for.
Biden is a demented, mendacious, vicious, incompetent puppet hiding in his basement eating ice cream.
Biden’s policies and rhetoric are getting people killed. Literally.
President Trump is a man who is LITERALLY willing to DIE for this country.
Hear hear!
Someone needs to study you Trumpsters–what causes group delusions and inability to comprehend facts? Your devotion to a proven misogynist, racist, fraudster and convicted criminal is incomprehensible, not to mention the fact that Trump was the worst POTUS in recent US history. Trump is the one who decimated our economy because of his utter incompetence in handling a pandemic and lack of understanding of economics–the cost of tariffs is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices–something he plans to do again, despite the fact that it will cause inflation to soar. Trump trashed NATO and our EU allies–emboldening Putin to invade Ukraine. Biden fixed that and NATO is stronger than ever before, with Sweden and Finland joining. Trump would take away aid to Ukraine and disavow our NATO commitments, so his pal Putin can take over Ukraine and then go after Poland and the Baltic countries–this could start WW III. Americans did much worse with deaths and infections due to COVID than other industrialized countries because of Trump and his lying about the seriousness of COVID. Because of Trump, schools, factories and businesses were shut down for about 2 years, and school kids still haven’t caught up. Because of Trump, there was widespread unemployment and people who could do so, worked from home, so demand for petrol went down and some refineries went off-line. When Biden turned things around, demand for fuel went up but supply lagged–higher demand and lower supply means higher prices. The same is true of consumer goods and computer chips–when Biden got America back to work and school, demand outstripped supply, so the cost went up. Did you forget the refrigerated trucks outside hospitals to handle the overflow of corpses and the food lines at churches and elsewhere?
Trump IS a threat to the entire American system of democracy. Read Project 2025–the Republicans’ plan to take over government, fire civil servants who pledge allegiance to the Constitution and replace them with lackies who will do the will of the most-incompetent occupier of the White House. They will do away with reproductive freedoms, like abortion, IVF and contraception. They will take away protections for LGBTQ people. They want to do away with the Department of Education and roll back consumer and environmental protections and push for more fossil fuel usage, which helps drive climate change that they try to deny. They want mass deportations of millions of migrants, even those waiting for hearings, concentration camps, and they plan to do away with NOAA to push climate change denialism. Trump wants tax cuts for the wealthiest, and denies that this will be paid for by cuts to Social Security and Medicare, but he previously said on Squawkbox that such cuts were on the table, as have other Republicans. This means that you can’t do retirement planning because of the uncertainty it will cause. They also want prompt executions.
Trump will literally do ANYTHING to win–ANYTHING–including staging a fake assassination attempt to divert attention away from Biden’s successses in interviews, with the NATO summit and in interviews, and to divert attention away from Project 2025. He loves to mug for the cameras–the fist pumping tough guy urging fans to “fight”. Tough guy Trump wasn’t man enough to accept the fact that he lost in 2020, and even if the sniper had killed him, he would have died for his own ego, not the United States. If he loved the United States, he would have respected the will of the American people, he would not have started the insurrection, and would not call military members “suckers and losers”. He would have, like previous presidents, congratulated the winner, attended the inauguration and stayed out of the limelight and allow the voters’ choice to do the job he was elected to do without interference.
“Trump would … disavow our NATO commitments”
How, exactly would he do that? With a stroke of his pen?
Holy shit! You can’t even count the number of lies in that one! She’s the gift that keeps on giving, I bet she has blue hair in dreads, a nose ring, 27 ear piercings, farts tofu and needs a bath. I love it, keep it up GiGi, you’re like Joe Biden. The best reason to vote for Trump ever, you’re just like Joe, you do the work for him!😂😂
My guess is she’s just a regular Karen from the suburbs.
Amiright, “Gigi”?
No way, she’s a blue hair, tattooed pierced and probably a bit on the heavy side. My bet is Daddy left Mommy and GiGi hates powerful men. I would love to meet her to see those wheels turning.
You know what President Biden can do with his “unity” speech tonight?
Shove it up his wife’s ass.
You do not have the trust of the nation.
GFY Biden. Your political career is over.
Come study me GiGi, you might like what you find 😂😎
Dangerous times…just as planned.
Hard times make for hard and dangerous men.
Democrats are the only existential threat to American democracy. They couldn’t impeach him, they couldn’t slander him, they couldn’t jail him–so they’re trying to kill him. Their lies and disgusting hate speech are the biggest threat to democracy this country has ever known.
The Democrats invented populism, and populism has always had spicy rhetoric and name calling, and the Democrats still use those tactics. They always have and always will.
The real reason Democrat leaders hate Donald Trump is NOT because he’s Hitler. That’s just a fundraising gimmick. They hate him because he uses their own tactics against them and thus far has denied them the power they crave.
Democrat leaders look at that crowd in Pennsylvania and see working people, rejoicing while Trump mocks the “Party of the People.” Trump took those truckers and farmers away from the Democrats, denying the DNC its federal caliphate. Once again, “the right side of history” might become a dead end, and they blame Trump for that, but they really should blame themselves. They’re incompetent and corrupt.
When they call Trump Hitler, that IS a dog whistle for “somebody kill this guy and history will exonerate you.” These crooks hate Trump and they do want him literally dead. Lawfare backfired, and plan B came within millimeters of succeeding.
How convenient that the shooter was a registered Republican. Kind of sounds like a false flag operation, doesn’t it? That this 20-year-old lunatic knew exactly where the gap was in security and managed to get there unimpeded kind of sounds like an inside job, doesn’t it? Hmmm…
The attempted assassination of former-President Trump has all the hallmarks of a CIA wet job. I bet I can get a lot more then 51 signatures on that statement.
Diogenes,
The Democrat party is the party of the rich, elite, the suburban white hysterical screaming woman.
You are right about the crowd. They are your average American.
Thank goodness there are no ‘rich, elite, suburban white’ Republicans or we’d really be screwed.
@Upstate
More to the point: what the likes of our host don’t seem to realize is that people of his mindset that still (naively IMO) consider the modern progressives a fringe faction – this new version of the DNC run with sheer malice, ignorance, and malevolence is what the modern ‘blue’ *want* and are fine supporting. It may be rhetoric to those in office, but to an unhinged and ignorant electorate it sounds like marching orders. The cheese has fully slid off the cracker.
Diogenes said: “The attempted assassination of former-President Trump has all the hallmarks of a CIA wet job”
I dunno. If this was a CIA attempt, that agency has truly slipped a great deal in their ability to conduct successful political assassinations since 1963 – 1968. Have they been making DEI hires, too?
HA! Good point. See my qualifying remarks below.
The agency would not use a 20 year old kid for their fall guy nor would they miss.
Traver, I agree. See my comment at 10:32 AM. I’m just insulting the CIA because they interfered in a domestic election and deserve to be vilified and mocked for it.
Defunded is more like it.
Now let me be clear. Do I really believe the Democrats and the CIA plotted to kill Trump? Not really. Not yet. I just want them to take what they dish out and see how it bloody feels.
I would add that most Democrats really do believe Trump is Hitler. Most Democrat women really believe The Handmaid’s Tale is a documentary. Most Democrat leaders would be privately thrilled if Trump were killed by a Republican. So would most trolls of this blog.
If anybody poses a threat to democracy, it’s them.
Diogenes,
These are the same people who denied Biden was in mental decline until the debate. And they are in shock at what they saw and what we have been telling them since 2020.
The ‘Big Lie’ is that they’re shocked. They’re acting.
Having been in on it the entire time.
The word went out the narrative’s shifting gears, so…
It’s a well-deserved shock, Upstate. Let’s hope our voters respond better than the Brits and the French.
I wouldn’t put it past the deep state SS to misstep and allow it to happen. Same result without direct involvement. Most federal law enforcement is comprised of prior military personnel. Many of these veterans get indoctrinated into the federal system or are hand picked for these important positions by a partisan hack like Comey did in the FBI. Look at Milley, he’s a general and was a treasonous traitor. Same could apply on the goon squads.
@Diogenes – “That this 20-year-old lunatic knew exactly where the gap was in security”
Disgraceful how security professionals didn’t know a VERY obvious gap in security! Thank God the President turned his head. Their next attempt: Ballot fraud, it’s inevitable.
Margot, I’m expecting AZ, MI, PA, and WI to be stolen by their Democrat governors. If it’s close, they’ll steal it. We need to win BIGLY.
So true, Professor Turley. First Amendment jurisprudence has long had the concepts of “fighting words” and “inciting violence,” in addition to laws against threats against the President and other laws against threatening language. Perhaps now, with the 24/7 news cycle, cable news, and the Internet with the ability to creat websites and with Comment sections on many news sites – contemporary venues and avenues of rage – those concepts might be reconsidered, specifically, if the required mens rea is intent, should it be changed to recklessness, even negligence, and should the legal definition of “threat” be revised, keeping in mind Watts v. United States (1969), https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/394/705.html, and the decision that Rachel Maddow’s show featured opinion, not news, so that a defamation action where she called something “Russian propaganda” failed. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/herring-maddow-9ca.pdf. (For the record, I am not here advocating such changes, simply noting the potential issues.)
The left doesn’t ‘want’ violence? They may not want to be the ones with blood on their hands directly, but that’s a good one, Professor.
Not too long ago they wanted to revoke Trump’s secret service protection and send him to prison. Thank goodness they failed. How many were actually convicted during the riots of 2020? Why did Pelosi refuse the National Guard? Ad nauseam.
The past eight years have shown violence is one of their favorite tools, even if they simply pull the levers that make it more likely. How can any liberal continue to be so obtuse? The old dem party is DEAD. Kaput. It ain’t coming back. Not just decency, but basic humanity has been purged from their ranks – see Carville stopping just short of asking for precisely this recently, or the sheer insanity of younger progressives. The best the DNC could hope for at this point is to fracture to save face, and even that would be a gamble.
The media, given their reprehensible and immediate attempts to spin this, are likely toast for good, there won’t be any walking back for them.
We may not have all of the facts yet, but the above is irrefutable and crystal clear, and we are talking the entire DNC and it’s associated from top to bottom. No one sane could think that those of us who previously voted dem and have been saying, ‘Never again!’, for *years* at this point are just cute and misinformed unless their disdain for us is equally hubristic, even if it is held more quietly.
Being tolerated publicly but judged in whispers is not the same thing as being egalitarian. This is all disgusting.
‘Mostly Peaceful Rally’
Sort of the least surprising thing ever.
., especially for those of us having experienced trump back in NY days. It’s actually shocking he hasn’t been on the other side of assassination attempts before. As the sentiment has always been around trump that to know him is to hate him, and he’s blatantly stolen from virtually everyone he’s done business with, the fact he’s still alive is miraculous…, at least from his perspective.
And let’s not neglect mentioning this is a total by product of what happens when your brand is all about whipping up the gullible. The most logical progression of whipping up your followers to intimidate your ‘enemies’ is that violence eventually finds YOU as a result.
You jerks call him Hitler and then blame him when he gets shot. I guess his “dress was too short”.
@hullbobby
No kidding. These fools are rapidly going from being sort of annoying to demonstrably prejudiced and unhinged. Impossible to take seriously.
HullBobby, and James,
The funny part about them is they cry about the good professor pointing out the “age of rage” and then their comments reflect exactly that.
The professor is spot on.
Upstate, have you read his book yet?
Christian nationalism is our nation’s third Reich. And trump has many similarities to early Hitler. And you’d blow him in public, hullbobby.
On July 14, 2024 at 10:00 AM, an anonymous poster says:
“Sort of the least surprising thing ever.”
It is completely unsurprising to see the likes of you insinuating that an attempted murder that was not self defense could be justified. Not to put too fine a point on this, “eat sh1t, and die”.
“he’s blatantly stolen from virtually everyone he’s done business with” — so is that why the banks love doing business with him? People like Anonymous who simply mouth Democratic rage rhetoric aren’t convincing anyone who actually thinks. One wishes they’d seek therapy instead of subjecting us all to their childish drivel.
Banks don’t love doing business with him. It’s why he has to take $ from Russia, Saudi Arabia and China.
I have watched the video over a dozen times now.
During the shots, the crowd takes cover, some shouting, but for the most part, no real chaos or pandemonium from them.
The SS try to rush Trump off stage, he stops, raises a fist and appears to yell, “fight!” three times. The crowd goes wild with applause and cheers.
There is a picture of Trump, ear bloodied, blood on his face, but he is standing, looking very presidential. Might be the picture of the election.
Weird the Secret Service didn’t protect him better
and allowed him to be that exposed for such a picture.
Reminds of the cops leaning away from Ruby getting Oswald.
There are only a dozen or so relevant rooftops in the vicinity and probably a similar number of ground-level locations. A total amateur can conclude that thise positions should have been secured. Incompetence or deliberate are the only two possibilities.
From a witness testimonial the assassin belly crawled across the roof. They pointed him out to the police and SS snipers. Reportedly, the SSSnipers could not see him due to a parapet wall masking his location. Once he exposed himself to fire he was killed. They should have secured all elevated positions, they failed.
They didn’t have a police helicopter on scene? Seems like a strange omission, if so.
It was a heartfelt moment to see him reassure America that the only way the democrats can win is not by violence but by voter fraud!
“[I]t was not nearly as surprising as it should have been.” (JT)
When your chronic drumbeat is: He’s Hitler, a dictator, a fascist. There will be death squads and hitmen (including Navy Seals), and concentration camps. It’ll be the end of democracy. He’ll make us disappear. — Do not be surprised when someone takes you seriously.
Spare us your intellectually dishonest: “But we didn’t mean violence.”
Spare us your phony outrage.
And spare us your childish deflections: But conservatives say . . . And republicans carry . . .
Civilized countries do not settle elections via assassination (or by lawfare).
As usual Turley tries to play the “both sides” card while plugging his book. Lame.
Give us one reason why ‘plugging his book’ is either wrong or bad.
You’re a boring little child, go unplug for a while. You have nothing to offer, except to continuously reaffirm to anyone wondering that the left is truly a bunch of lame-assed whiners that only know how to make things worse.
Have we lost the art of compromise. Dear ingredients for a representative Republic.
‘Holy ‘Captain E.J. Smith”, Batman!!” From a published video, which captures events just prior to the shooting, the counter-sniper team appears to be training their line of sight on a suspect location from which, on the off-chance, a potential threat might originate. If that be the case, the Secret Service failed to obviate the possibility that the location might be exploited as a direct threat by cordoning it off and preventing access to the area. Going forward, ”Remember the Titanic’,
I’m usually a fan of the professor but not today. His use of “both sides” language is lazy and thoughtless. As others have pointed out, he provides zero examples of mainstream conservative speakers using such reckless rhetoric, but many examples of mainstream liberals doing so. Ironically, when the side that is victimized hears careless accusations that its own culpability is equivalent to the perpetrator’s, it only tends to feed the very rage that Turley rails against.
OldManFromKS,
The question I have is exactly what is the “rage” of conservatives?
Reading the comments here on the good professor’s blog, it is more like we have concerns but are certainty not in a “rage.”
Concerned about possible WWIII? Yes. Everyone should be.
The economy? Yes.
The open border crisis? Yep.
Parental rights? Of course.
Public education? Of course.
Free speech, the Constitution? Absolutely.
I think the closest I get to “rage” is at the check out line at the grocery store and see how much my dollar does not buy anymore, aka inflation.
We are like the crowd at the Butler PA rally when shots are being fired. Are we concerned, take cover? Yes. Are we in a outright, mindless panic? No.
What rage I do see on the good professor’s blog is if and when I do read Dennis’s or Gigi’s comments. There is some outright rage for you.
Upstate and OldmanfromKS, I agree entirely. I do not recall any Republican suggesting that a “bullseye” be put on a Democrat candidate as Biden said about Trump, or that any Democrat candidate will be the end of democracy in our country, kill homosexuals, etc., etc. as the View and Maddow and their ilk do. The only question I have is whether they really are so stupid that they do not realize that someone might decide to end this litany of threats by killing President Trump? The answer is probably yes, although I think it also is possible that they are so vicious in their hatred of President Trump that they would and do wish him dead. I wish it was just the handful of idiots who are the on-air talent at the networks. But it’s not. Eight years of propaganda based on lies and pushed so fervently by the so-called main stream media have worked, just as it did in pre-War Germany where exterminating Jews became the only way to “save” the Christian nation. Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and has infected hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people. There is no redemption in sight. Even now, “reporters” and anchors on some networks (CNN, CBS) are criticizing a bloodied Trump for standing in the face of their hatred, pumping his fist and encouraging his supporters to stand strong. Their hatred blinds them to the amazing demonstration of raw courage and unscripted compassion we all saw.
Honestlawyermostly,
Great comment!
Thank you!
Oldman: Attack and then suddenly become peaceful sounding while peddling moral equivalency. That is the left. Their nature is naturally violent, and if anyone has any doubt they need not look further than the events following the criminal, George Floyd, death. Look at the history of violence in this country. It is mostly from the left, but leftists knowing the truth blame the right because anarchists and crazy dictator types without specific policy are not on either side. However Marxist revolutionaries and anarchists are on the same side where violence is concerned because both see instability prior to a violent coup.
is such a strong
The left is used to killing. They kill babies and formerly lynched blacks. Today they wish to kill the Jews. Leftism is such a powerful killing machine that even leftist Jews march in protests that call for other Jews to be killed. The vast majority of political murder comes from the left, anarchists or crazies without a sensible point of view.
S. Meyers———excellent.
Screw the left! These a-holes will not stop. This call for civility and a reset on the right and left is just another tactic used to consolidate the gains made by the Deep State/NWO. This is not the time to take a break but a time to push back against the Deep State’s manufactured violence. People are being gaslit and played against each other.
It’s the cabal, both sides. Trump has exposed their corruption to all. They can’t allow him a second term, they aren’t done destroying our Republic. How do you eat a whale, one bite at a time. They have been chipping away at our Republic since before the civil war.
Trump! a magnificently dedicated man, Gods speed!
You write that you don’t think the people engaging in rage rhetoric do not want violence, in the next sentence that they KNOWINGLY create the conditions for it.
Make up your mind—or rather, face the facts, they did it with intent. 8 years of it.
They didn’t stop after a Bernie Bro shot up the Republican Congressional softball team, they waited a few days and then escalated.
They denied protection to RFK Jr. which sent a clear message. This is exactly what they wanted for Trump and RFK, except this guy screwed up and didn’t quite succeed. They intend to assassinate by proxy. This time they got their assassin, but the target moved and he missed by an inch or two.
8 years of consistently escalating inflammatory statements and actions against Trump and any target in his camp, intimidating into silence or political oblivion even Democrats who challenge them— RFK, Phillips, Gabbard, all the other 2020 presidential candidates…
The Democratic Party establishment are the real fascists at the gate.
Next: why was the building the shooter used left unsecured? The only location from which a non-expert shooter could target the stage with a good chance of success, only 400 feet away. This is a Conspiracy Theory that will never go away because there can be no satisfactory explanation.
“They denied protection to RFK Jr. which sent a clear message.”
Traveler, thanks. That is something we have to think about, not-so-benign-neglect. There are additional questions arising as to the adequacy of protection, especially since the shooter was relatively close and in the line of sight. Some are said to have notified police of the shooter climbing to the roof. Who denied extra protection for RFK? The Biden administration. How do we call some previous questionable deaths? Arkanside. The left is violent!!!
From Victor Davis Hanson on X this morning.
“By slugging his face (Robert De Niro), by decapitation (Kathy Griffin, Marilyn Manson), by stabbing (Shakespeare in the Park), by clubbing (Mickey Rourke), by shooting ( Snoop Dogg), by poisoning (Anthony Bourdain), by bounty killing (George Lopez), by carrion eating his corpse (Pearl Jam), by suffocating (Larry Whilmore), by blowing him up (Madonna, Moby), by throwing him over a cliff (Rosie O’Donnell), just by generic “killing” him (Johnny Depp, Big Sean), or by martyring him (Reid Hoffman: “Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr.”). You can be sure that I will not be voting for the same person that these people will be voting for in November.
That is excellent.
TiT,
That right there.
Angry Trump supporters may be thinking ‘ten of yours for one of ours, all of yours for Trump.’
Understandable, but the division in this country is so extreme that political killings could easily escalate and that is the last thing this nation needs.
Then, there may be some who wish for an escalation. A few shitwits come to mind…
Agreed, it would be hell having to fight UN forces and federalist tyranny at the same time!
It was a superb editorial. For the rest one needs to link to:
https://x.com/VDHanson/status/1812434677312983429
The amusing thing is that by attempting to eliminate Trump, the pathetic loser only succeeded in removing the Lefts’s ability to demonize him, the only weapon in their arsenal. Biden can’t run on his record. The DNC has only “paused” because they can no longer use the false accusations of fascism and comparisons to Hitler which is the entirety of their campaign. In other words, their quiver is empty. They’re screwed.
Yep. Unless there is a subsequent, successful attempt, that (dead) loser idiot Crooks has absolutely guaranteed a Trump victory, and very much increased the probability of a Republican landslide.
A Republican shoots Trump and you think that will make moderates want to vote for him?
I don’t think a misguided 20 year old was anything other than subjected to the continuous lies of leftist propaganda.
Sammy, the Sophomoric channeling Soviet Democrat Useful Idiot tried this:
A Republican shoots Trump and you think that will make moderates want to vote for him?
That would be the Republican who registered as a Republican in High School, long before he could vote – and ever since has donated cash to Soviet Democrat Identity Politics groups? The Republican who was obsessed with Bribery Biden’s “Trump’s a fascist danger to the country” exhortations?
Why did you just seize on the “Republican” part?
Curious Americans wonder why you forgot to mention that.
Our country is truly blessed. We were given a glimpse of a very ugly future that lies ahead unless we make amends. If you think the level of unhinged fanaticism is to be measured by the Biden campaign’s TDS-saturated ads, then you have no idea what passes for “free speech” on the cesspool renamed “X”. Unmoderated social media are a delightful playground for domestic misanthropes and zealots (peppered with foreign adversary provocateurs). They pitch their vile conspiracy theories (crafted expressions of hate) hoping for a Thomas M. Crooks to hop on the belief train.
Words have consequences. Words are the vehicle for ideation. Assassination ideation has been churning barely below the surface of mass media themes portraying a 2nd Trump term as the end of democracy. It flows freely in the dark corners of algorithm-mediated social media postings.
America is being given a chance to stop and reflect. We were warned from the beginning that expansive freedom of ideation only works for a citizenry steeped in virtue. This requires every child born to be inculcated with said virtues.
How are we doing? 99.5% sounds good, but 0.5% of young men Crook’s age (20) comes out to 1.5 million.
This isn’t a call to lay blame. That will surely fail at correcting a gnarly, highly complex dilemma. It’s a call to take responsibility. Because, without knowing the specifics of how Thomas Crooks decided to kill rather than wait for Nov. to vote, it has everything to do with rights having outdistanced responsibilities. The chance we were given yesterday, I call it divine intervention, is to rebalance rights enumerated in 1A and 2A with concomitant responsibilities not enumerated there. This is unfinished business the Founders left for us to figure out.
The first step is to reclaim the necessity of moderated discourse, without which standards of civility evaporate.
As a champion of such, I’m hoping JT and the ones who opine here can now go beyond merely criticizing specific speech and ideation excesses of the past, and engage with the much more difficult problem — where to make modest, calibrated changes to media law (Section 230, Sullivan) that re-institute some measure of responsibility.
You call out the ‘necessity of moderated discourse”. Who do you believe freedom loving people will believe is qualified and can be trusted to perform that moderation?
That post was nothing but poorly disguised advocacy to destroy the rights that underpin our Republic, while pretending to praise it.
I wholeheartedly agree with you!
The left is the purveyor of violent lunacy.
https://x.com/VDHanson/status/1812434677312983429