House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., triggered an outcry this week with his call for Democrats to fight President Donald Trump’s agenda “in the streets.” The incendiary language came not long after a man, Ryan Michael “Reily” English, was arrested at the Capitol with a knife and Molotov cocktails. According to court filings, English was allegedly targeting House Speaker Mike Johnson, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Notably, Jeffries has been one of the loudest voices condemning President Donald Trump for his own rhetoric, including calling on supporters to fight against election fraud and the 2020 election certification.
Jeffries reportedly declared “We are gonna fight it legislatively. We are gonna fight it in the courts. And we’re gonna fight it in the streets.”
Frankly, in light of the claims that Republicans are Nazis and plotting to overthrow democracy, the comment seems almost restrained in comparison.
Those narratives have far greater influence on figures like English, who likely dwell in the echo chamber of MSNBC and other outlets that have predicted the imminent demise of democracy.
Notably, English used the same Nazi rhetoric that is common on liberal sites. The FBI statement recounted:
“With respect to the ENGLISH’s arrest on January 27, 2025, ENGLISH admitted to leaving ENGLISH’s phone at home for surveillance purposes. ENGLISH left ENGLISH’s home in Massachusetts on Sunday, January 26, 2025, again leaving ENGLISH’s phone behind for surveillance purposes, and traveled to the District of Columbia with the intention of killing what ENGLISH referred to as “Nazi” Secretary of Defense, Peter Hegseth, and/or the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and/or burning down the Heritage Foundation, “two blocks from the White House.” These actions were specifically to “depose” these political offices and send a message. ENGLISH admitted to buying an atlas a month ago to navigate ENGLISH’s way to the District of Columbia, given ENGLISH would not have a phone with GPS capability. ENGLISH further admitted that ENGLISH wore clothes to conceal ENGLISH’s appearance when purchasing the atlas and paid cash for the atlas.”
While the media often focuses on right-wing extremists, there have been repeated attacks from the left. Both sides have used similar language in rallying their supporters.
Trump used language like going to “fight” for his cause in the protest on the Hill, but he never actually called for violence or a riot. Rather, he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol to express opposition to the certification of electoral votes and to support the challenges being made by some members of Congress. He expressly told his followers “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Those words were routinely edited out of the clips by the January 6th committee.
The media has maintained the one-sided narrative on both political violence and violent rhetoric.
The Democrats often raise the Jan. 6th riot and it is important to acknowledge that the damage extended to an attack on our constitutional process. However, the preceding protest around the White House caused more injuries and more property damage. Then President Trump had to be removed to a safe location as the Secret Service feared a breach of the White House. There were a reported 150 officers injured (including at least 49 Park Police officers around the White House) in the Lafayette Park riot. Protesters caused extensive property damage including the torching of a historic structure and the attempted arson of St. John’s Church.
Mass shootings by leftist gunmen have repeatedly occurred, but those are treated as one-offs, while any conservative shooter is part of a pattern of right-wing violence.
Keith Ellison, the Democratic attorney general of Minnesota, even mocked the notion of liberal violence. In one tweet, he declared “I have never seen @BernieSanders supporters being unusually mean or rude. Can someone send me an example of a ‘Bernie Bro’ being bad. Also, are we holding all candidates responsible for the behavior of some of their supporters? Waiting to hear.”
Republican Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana replied dryly: “I can think of an example.” Scalise was severely wounded at the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball game practice by a Sanders supporter.
Ellison was a particularly ironic Democratic politician to repeat this mantra. When he was the Democratic National Committee deputy chair, Ellison praised Antifa, a violent anti-free speech group that regularly attacks conservatives, pro-lifers, and others.
Ellison 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.
Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer. When confronted about Antifa’s violence, then House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler denied that the group existed. Likewise, Joe Biden has dismissed objections to Antifa as just “an idea.”
Figures like Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) have called for Trump to be “eliminated.” (He later apologized after triggering an outcry).
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in 2018 encouraged her supporters to fight back against the Trump administration: “Let’s make sure we show up whenever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcomed anymore, anywhere.”
The point is not that Jeffries is encouraging violence. I do not believe that. The point is the hypocrisy in the condemnation of such rhetoric in others while fueling anger among your own followers.
Previously, Jeffries went on MSNBC to denounce “the type of violence that we saw on January 6th because of the extreme rhetoric that is coming from many right-wing ideologues in this country.”
I have criticized what I have called the “rage rhetoric” on both sides for years. Once again, I am more concerned with the type of rhetoric repeated by figures like English. If you tell viewers every night that democracy is dying and the Nazis are coming, a certain percentage will believe it and take violent action. It is that small percentage of unstable individuals who end up trying to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh or massacre Republican members playing softball.
The thing about rage is that it allows you to ignore the conduct of your own allies. It gives a license to ratchet up the rhetoric. It also can produce absurd moments. One such moment was captured when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vt.) confronted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and demanded to know: “Are you supportive of the onesies!” It appears we have gone from supporting Commies to supporting onesies; from the Red Scare to the Bed Scare.
Notably, Sanders’ apparel alarm did not extend to the Antifa onesies that were the rage during the holidays with shoppers on the left.
Whether it is using “fight” rhetoric or buying onesies, the outrage tends to be forced and one-sided.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
test
Well maybe Jack Smith can RIDE AGAIN!!! Sounds like a case of Insurrection Call by the radical Hakeem!! Release the dogs on him, right? Isn’t that what Liz Cheney should be calling for form her perch in Jackson Hole standing next to Daddy Warbucks? How about Cryin Kinzinger – are we gonna get some fresh tears and calls of treason? NO? Hmmm, not a shock to most Americans that the Dems once again are the biggest hypocrites in the land!!!
Hockkeim’s actions constitute an absolute and irrefutable incitement of insurrection by an intuitively and ultimately unassimilable traitor with evident foreign allegiances.
By a speedy trial, indict and convict Hockkeim in the purview of the 5th Circuit and impeach and convict him on the Insurrection Clause, imposing a merciful penalty of deportation and exile.
It’s a distraction while they rob you. Keeps you busy with little hot button issues and incitement as they carry on or out with bags of money knowing people will harm themselves and they only incited it.
Oh yes, Hack-em up Jeffrey. Someone pointed out long ago its blood lust. It’s Iago from Othello and they laugh at people as they cut off the genitals of their own children. It’s power. Power.
Back on the trans-persons and violence. Imagine the degree of craziness that a person would have to possess to want to cut off their own penis, or breasts. Large numbers of these people are suicidal, with many saying that without surgery they would be dead. I would love to ask one of them what would be the Cause of Death? Your penis exploded? Your breast spontaneously combusted? Of course, the answer would be, “I would kill myself”.
So mentally, trans-people live in the same mental-space where your typical suicide bomber dwells.
IMHO, These are the people most likely to buy into Jeffries and the Democrats rhetoric. They/Them, and the cray-cray social justice warriors. FWIW:
A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42% of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes.
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/transpop-suicide-press-release/#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20from%20the,self%2Dinjury%20over%20their%20lifetimes.
There are more stats at the link. I disagree that this is “stigma-driven.” I think they are nuts to start off with.
Floyd-You got that right. “I want to cut off my junk and I frequently think of suicide”-
Biden-“we should make you a fighter pilot”
Trump-“we have this medical facility down in Cuba that can help you and protect the rest of us”.
Bernie spouts, “Are you supportive of the onesies!”
Bernie, are you serious? Your lot is having more abortions than babies. Better make sure those onesies are fire retardant.
Diogenes,
They are going to non-breed themselves out of existence.
Upstate, anybody who markets to Antifa better check the dressing rooms for poop 🙂
You have to stop calling the J6 event a so-called riot. At best it was an *incursion* into the Capitol buildings , a brief tourist-type walk-through that Capital Police allowed, even encouraged. All further propagated by FBI undercover agents egging on the crowd.
It was an attempted coup.
Were it a riot, it was well done.
Were it a coup, it was utterly inane and terminally ineffective.
It was a riot.
And you are a liar, perjuring yourself and conspiring to falsely convict an innocent party.
Yet the Left is NEVER held accountable for anything they say or do or promote or incite. Why not? Because they are insulated from criticism by academia, the complicit media, the courts and their hypocritical acolytes in the general population. Law enforcement looks the other way. The press manipulates the issue to turn it against the very victims of Leftist rhetoric. The legal system endlessly debates the issue, finding one rationale after another for why the Leftist narrative is benign and even healthy. To over half of the country this is intolerable. It’s disgusting and dangerous and leading to a rage that will soon explode no matter how it might be posited by the media and Leftist politicians. We are approaching the point where we simply don’t care about the “High Road” mantra that has held us captive an voiceless and ineffective for way too long. The pot is boiling and it will soon overflow. God help this country when it does. Yet the Left, from its perceived position of invincibility and immunity from prosecution, keeps stoking the fire. Beware!
“We are gonna fight it legislatively. We are gonna fight it in the courts. And we’re gonna fight it in the streets.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. The first statements are acceptable. There’s no problem with if the third if modified to, “We’re gonna take it to the streets ‘to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.'”
But it wasn’t. It was a clarion call to incite violence by people like Ryan Michael English, arrested at the Capitol with a knife and Molotov cocktails from the stable of the unstable, radicalized Left to kill Trump, top officials in the Trump cabinet, and his opponent, House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Yet, the media remains silent when the left-wing murderers take to the streets. Call it “rage rhetoric” if you want, but acknowledge where it leads.
Its truly sad how reading comprehension is such a problem here. Too many on the right can’t put things into context because of reading comprehension and outright misleading narratives like Turley’s make it so easy for MAGA gullibles to buy into it. Ignorance and a lack of self-awareness is the cancer that plagues this country. No wonder China is set to overcome the U.S. as a leading nation in the world.
No wonder China is set to overcome the United States as the leading nation of the world. How could they not? Bill Clinton provided them massive leaps in computer technology off the backs of American companies. Joe Biden provided them an open door for a small brand fee to our foreign policies. They have continually stolen our trade secrets, personal information and intellectual property. Hoe could they not become a world leading nation? Only because they are a paper tiger built on Communism… it doesn’t work.
Traveler
China does not “steal” American technology.
It is freely given.
American technology companies make their products in China because of the low labor cost, which allows them to make bigger profits.
Virtually every cell phone, computer, television is made in China.
Every Boeing aircraft has components that are made in China.
Boeing assembles 737 aircraft in China.
China makes a requirement that any foreign company wishing to produce products in China must also provide access to the IT needed to produce that product.
China told Boeing that they would not buy their aircraft unless they manufactured components and assembled the aircraft in China.
The vast majority of the American technology transferred to China was freely given in pursuit of greater profits.
If you want to stop China “stealing” technology, then you have to stop making your products there.
China disregards patents and regularly steals privileged intellectual property from those doing business with them. Happens regularly.
It is not stolen.
It is freely given.
China requires that the information be provided as a condition of doing business there.
Just Google this:
Forced technology transfer
China forces foreign companies to hand over IP as a condition of manufacturing products there.
If the companies refuse to hand over IP they can’t do business there.
American companies freely hand over IP so that they can make bigger profits by exploiting cheap labor in China.
The theft of IP and patents is a myth
Keep looking, corporate espionage, computer hacking is rampant. You stopped at the beginning, DuPont as well as other major companies are litigating this very “myth” issue.
So how about the China mole and insider trading at the Federal Reserve myth dunce?
“No wonder China is set to overcome the U.S. as a leading nation in the world.”
True dat! China does not have a Democrat Party.
China has a sort of inverse population bomb.
“Countries such as Japan and Germany have had decades to adjust as their populations have aged gradually. China, on the other hand, has begun the aging process at an earlier stage of development and at a more accelerated pace than most countries have experienced.”
– https://chinapower.csis.org/china-demographics-challenges/
Let’s criticize China when the US can’t govern 350 million people…
I worked with some Chinese Engineers, nicest guys you could imagine. They loved being here but where very restricted in their venturing about. We asked them if they liked America so much why not just stay? They responded that their families would be executed if they defected. It was later discovered after completion of the project they had installed surveillance software in the systems we were working on.
Welcome to Communism!
Never trust the Chinese.
The J6ers were incited by the orangutan’s rage rhetoric. Now the violent ones are back on the streets.
TRUMP STILL SUCKS
Jeffries had to say something so he mimicked by air, land and sea.
A little rap and some alliteration is always good.
It is awful how the pattern of violence committed by people identifying as “transgender” is ignored.
For a glaring example, there is Audrey Hale.
But there is a more recent example:
“Woman arrested in fatal Vermont shooting of Border Patrol agent from Minnesota – CBS Minnesota” https://search.app/akwf7D7jLp9buS6A8
And there are others.
The cause of the problem?
IMO, the large number of medical professionals who profit from performing plastic surgery, etc. on these misguided people.
@anny – Checkout the Vermont Border Officer shooting and who are the “Zizians”?
You just have to look at
“Karla Sofía Gascón Is Oscars’ First Trans Acting Nominee” https://search.app/hNm5QCmDfxZwsGza7
and ask
“How much did that plastic surgery cost,
and who paid for it?”
Talk about Sodom and Gomorrah!
Well she’s not a human. She’s a goddess. A goddess can turn into anything. Like Dracula turns into a bat.
It is odd . Most surgeons will not even do a nose job if it’s diagnosed as unnecessary or a part of dysphoria.
Sorry Professor Turley, Jeffries and Waters mean exactly what they say. The called for people to fight in the streets and ANTIFA saw it as a resounding call to duty. They knew exactly what they were doing and they were happy with the results. Are you saying that when Kamala Harris said that the riots should not stop that she didn’t mean that the riots should not stop? Are you saying that when Kamala Harris raised bail money for ANTIFA members that she didn’t mean to raise bail money for ANTIFA? It is clear that a message was sent to far left extremists that they would face no repercussions for their actions. They ment every word of it then and they mean every word of it now. Your generosity is not well spent. Wishy Washy should not be your style.
Expect ghetto violence this Summer in blue cities. All the usual anarchists will be inciting their constituents to burn it all down, etc. Rev. Al will not miss an opportunity to play peacemaker, while further lining his pockets with green. Now it will be a prime opportunity for members of the squad to get some face time in the NY rags, as well as appearing on crap tv shows (ex. The View), to screech about the horrors of the orange man. Elections are over……back to business.
Don’t kid yourself, if Soros doesn’t fund it, they have no troops. Gimmedats are going to face a new policy that would most likely have National Guard and shoot to kill for looting and destruction. America has grown tired of these idiots.
Hakeem Jeffries carries enough baggage in his past to suggest that he is quite capable of encouraging violence.
https://www.newsweek.com/hakeem-jeffries-under-fire-defending-antisemitic-uncle-1794081
“Trump used phrases like ‘fight for his cause’ during the protest on the Hill, but he never explicitly called for violence or a riot.”
When discussing this, Turley omitted what Trump actually said: “fight like hell.” Instead, he emphasized a single phrase that the right clings to in order to rationalize his divisive rhetoric.
Turley’s misleading portrayal of the facts only serves to promote a narrative that he seems to be a part of, which aligns with the “rage rhetoric” he claims to criticize. This makes him a hypocrite.
Turley consistently defends this type of rhetoric as free speech, despite it being the same language that Trump used repeatedly to assert that the election was stolen, leading to violence against election workers, as well as death threats and harassment. His examples focus on the left while neglecting instances from the right, revealing his bias. Turley seems intent on not upsetting his MAGA supporters, as they can turn on you like rabid dogs.
nwrt
George you sure are a one way guy. The injuries to police, the destruction of property and the fire that was set in an historic church in an attempt to storm the Whitehouse just can’t find a slot in your brain. If you at any time would have said that violence on both sides is unacceptable we could take your comments more seriously. George, let’s go back to the early days when you were taught, “One of these things is not like the other”. Im sorry to bring up a test that you failed in first grade George but some remedial education might do you a world of good.
When did you condemn the violence against police officers during the January 6 rioting? Did you speak out against the pardoning of those who assaulted and attacked police officers? Where was your outrage? Was it wrong for Trump to pardon January 6 rioters who were later found to have child pornography charges? Some of these individuals have faced new charges or are being held on state charges that cannot be pardoned by Trump.
Regarding the rioters you mentioned, they are charged with assaulting law enforcement officers because those officers were perceived to be attacking the rioters. This provocation is why their charges are different.
This provocation is why their charges are different.
What the fvck are you talking about??
Just making shit up again.
I was wondering when the Professor would bring up the speech by Mr. Jeffries. I mean, how outrageous, how incendiary. It’s, it’s almost seditious if not outright insurrectionist. Mr Jeffries is a true Democrat, just sort of a combination of Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters.
I think Mr Jeffries thought he was Winston Churchill. “We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets….We shall never surrender”. There is a slight problem, however, and that is, of course, that Churchill was talking about were Real Nazi’s, you know the ones that conquered Europe, had concentration and death camps (seen ‘em back in the 1950’s) and they slaughtered 6 million Jews and over 20 million Russians along the way.
Mr Jeffries sees faux Nazi’s behind every bush and around every corner and on the right side of every room. He has no context or judgement. But then he is a Democrat and their most recent Party Meeting (fling) to asses the reasons for the Party’s most recent defeat in 11/2024 decided that the loss was because of Racism and Misogyny . ??? Really. They have no sense of judgement or even Irony. No wonder that they are fast slipping away and Trump gets more popular each day.
This view of the Democrats is not improved by their senators performance in the confirmation hearings. Screaming fits, children’s clothing, Senator Mazie Hirono, …
I don’t wish to have one party rule. An intelligent and reasoned opposition is always desirable because it keeps you sharp, focuses your messages, and keeps your feet on the ground and not in never never land. I’m sure we don’t have that right now.
It seems the mass firings by the Trump people makes the message from the left even more shrill with each boatload of former federal officeholders heading out of town.
One last thought. An office or workplace is a state of mind as well as a place. It means I am here to work and produce. Playtime is elsewhere. Team work works best when the team is together.
GEB,
Great comment. All the left has is emotional rage. As long as they keep it up, the Democrat party will continue to lose. Seriously, if real Democrats want to regain their party, they have got to kick the stupid and insane ones out.
Undoubtedly these narratives have far greater influence on figures who dwell in the party’s many media echo chambers, but to say that one does not believe Jeffries is encouraging violence is disingenuous; certainly such statements serve as both tool to enrage and energize but also as dog whistle to further violence. Jeffries’ statement was, in fact, a threat. And Trump is right to demand an apology. Such threats, such calls for violence, such attempts to enrage, and to intimidate, must end if we are to survive as democratic state. Amazing to me also the juvenile antics and incredible naivete of those like Jeffries who seemingly defy gravity to assume positions in America’s political apparatus. Intellect and intelligence, both sorely missing in my opinion from our politics of the last two to three decades.
“The point is not that Jeffries is encouraging violence. I do not believe that.” How very naive of you, Professor Turley. You noted that President Trump specifically called for peaceful protests. I’ve noticed that those on the left tend to forget to mention the “peaceful” part.
Democrats are the party of anarchy.
Republicans are the party of deceit.
I was wondering when the real media is going to make severe waves about jefferies’s family tree. I think that both he and Newsome should share their family reunion pics with the rest of us – just to get started on the nepotism ripe within our goverments/media/business.
Ah yes….. Little Hakeem. The Wokster’s poster boy for Anti-Trump rage. “Take it to the streets” Hakeem ?. Seriously ? Be careful what you ask for.
Great news! DOJ issues criminal investigation into Sen. Chuck Schumer for his veiled threats against SCJs while chitcanning 56 DOJ attorneys that abused their power over J6 Patriots. Delicious!
Turls, you spend your days inciting the gullible here. Do you see Jeffries as competition?
I see jeffries as the nephew of a known America-hater (“God Damn America”) lewis farrakhan. I see him as a far greater existential threat to America than any other member of congress. He should be summarily smacked down for his all to active resistence in the streets to his President’s agenda. He swore an oath, like all the progs, to defend the constitution and then conveniently ignored that oath for the ease of implementing “fundamental transformation” of America.
Doesn’t Jeffries’s message err just a tad on the seditious side?
Maybe unproductive speech in the Age of Rage needs a convenient name. How about Discoarse?