“We got the guillotine, you better run.”
Those words could have easily been expressed at the turn of the nineteenth century as French Jacobins and other groups called for the heads of the wealthy and privileged classes.
Indeed, for some of us, it was a bizarre sense of déjà vu. As the scene unfolded with this chant and a full-sized guillotine in Portland, I was putting final touches on my forthcoming book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. The book, published by Simon & Schuster, will be released in 2026 as part of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It explores the American and French Revolutions and why one became the most stable democracy in the world and the other became the blood-soaked “Terror.”
The appearance of guillotines is becoming commonplace in protests by the left. From protests against Trump to those against Israel, the symbol of the Terror is being rolled out as a warning to those with opposing views: “We got the guillotine, you better run.”
It is the ultimate expression of an age of rage. There is no question that it is protected speech. However, it is part of what I have called “rage rhetoric,” and it is meant to inflame others. It suggests that the only solution to these issues is what the French called “the razor of the Republic.”
In the French Revolution, the irony is that those who turned the guillotine into the symbol of revolution were themselves beheaded on the same platforms. Robespierre and others would ultimately be dispatched in the same atmosphere of rage and revelry.
As my new book discusses, most revolutions are driven by establishment figures who seek to capitalize on the wave of popular rage to gain power. We are seeing that today with many Democratic leaders using rage rhetoric to appeal to the far extremes of their political bases.
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called on people to get ready to “take to the streets” because the political system is failing them. (This is the same Adam Kinzinger who previously denounced Trump and others for reckless rhetoric: “Look, violent rhetoric is wrong, and has no place. But MAGA pretending they didn’t light this fire is gaslighting to the 100th power.”).
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared, “I’m going to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth.” It follows other violent rhetoric from Democratic leaders.
One House member explained that there is a “sense of fear and despair and anger” among voters that “puts us in a different position where … we can’t keep following norms of decorum.” One House Democrat told Axios, “Some of them have suggested … what we really need to do is be willing to get shot.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) posted a picture brandishing a baseball bat.
Yet another admitted that constituents have told them to prepare for “violence … to fight to protect our democracy.” Others reported that liberals are talking about the need “to storm the White House and stuff like that.”
One explained that “They’re angry beyond things.” Another said, “It’s like … the Roman coliseum. People just want more and more of this spectacle.”
Some are discussing triggering or staging violence. One member said, “What I have seen is a demand that we get ourselves arrested intentionally or allow ourselves to be victims of violence, and … a lot of times that’s coming from economically very secure white people.”
In one encounter, a lawmaker told Axios: “I actually said in a meeting, ‘When they light a fire, my thought is to grab an extinguisher’. And someone at the table said, ‘Have you tried gasoline?’”
Some have. Protesters are burning cars, dealerships, and even lawyers and reporters on the left are throwing Molotov cocktails at police. We have also seen a massive increase in attacks on ICE officers, who are now covering their faces to avoid doxxing or retaliation against themselves or their families.
In the end, today’s pseudo-revolutionaries are likely to find themselves tomorrow’s reactionaries. Leading mobs is rarely a safe place to be as more radical elements take hold of a movement. The result is an inexorable pattern that runs throughout history as revolution devours its own.
It is beyond hilarious to me that the people employing this symbology are basically the heirs, spiritual and literal, of the people the guillotine was used on. The tone deafness of the modern left is historic in itself.
James,
You are correct. Wally said something to the effect of wanting a French style like “Terror.” I pointed out how the would be mob he would lead would turn on him.
@Upstate
Seems to be what’s happening! It’s quite a corner they’ve painted themselves into, getting tighter by the day, and they will not back-pedal.
Bad Democrats are never punished by Good Republicans
That can’t continue!
The point of Democrats is to make people poor more services, Democrats can SKIM from!
Making Wall Street, public unions and richest…more rich…and 90% more poor!
prepare for “violence … to fight to protect our democracy.” Apparently Trump being elected by the people is not the democracy these libs can tolerate.
BillyG,
Of course they cannot tolerate things like losing an election. Just look at all the Russiagate hoax they tried to pull off.
Jon I think you confused. The left’s protests are while the LEFT holds power.
Democrats are FASCISTS…the opposite of the fight against Centralized power. Democrats/Globalists/Left WANT total centralized power!
Think Germany/Italy 1930’s.
Which is what the American and French Revolution FOUGHT against!
The Right should be calling for Guillotines.
The Russian Hoax is the WORST crime in American history and so FAR ZERO people have been punished!!!
Now we just say…oh well 5 year statue of limitation, while the LEFT was in power for 4 years!
I don’t care what it TAKE but I want people punished and I mean by DEATH sentences. We can’t continue with the Democrats as they are.
They are FIGHTING their 2nd Civil War…they have NO problem KILLING people…example Trump, Republican Congress, the American People, etc
I WANT Punishments!
“Stochastic terrorism,” pure and simple.
“We must ban this obscene performance art!” cried the free speech advocate.
Who said anything about banning performance art? Turley explicitly says in referring to Democrat supporting nutbags dragging around guillotines to inflame the hatred and rage of Democrat voters, “There is no question that it is protected speech.”
Also, it’s wrong to characterize it as theatrics. Trump supporters were targeted with violence by anti-Trump Democrat nutbags long before Trump was even elected in 2016. Search Youtube for “Violence directed at Trump supporters” for a taste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lk1kvZ_WNY
A Democrat campaign volunteer attempted to assassinate a baseball field full of Republicans. Other Democrat aligned lunatics have tried to assassinate Trump at least twice that we know about.
Corrupt judges and prosecutors have abused their positions to engage in lawfare to try to steal $500 MILLION from Trump, bankrupt him, imprison him. Elected Democrats tried to impeach him twice on bogus garbage.
Your party is evil. It just is.
Now sit down and shut up.
Telling me to shut up is censorship.
I live on planet Earth. On planet Earth telling someone to shut up is not censorship. What imaginary world do you live in where telling you to shut up is censorship?
I called you out for lying about Turley. I told you to shut up for lying. Now you create a new lie that I’ve censored you.
You seem incapable of being honest. You really SHOULD shut up and slink back into your hole. But you are certainly free to ignore my advise and lie some more. If that is your choice, I will hold you accountable for your lies.
No, you moron. Making you shut up is censorship.
Please point out where the good professor said that.
What he did say was, “There is no question that it is protected speech.”
Baseball bats, bricks, rocks, bottles of frozen water, even knives do not do well at a gun fight….just saying!
Down South we have a saying about those who just have to open up a can of “Whoop Ass!”….which warns against spilling it on themselves in the process as that never turns out well.
It shall not be the French Shaving Machine that culls the herd….nope….not in this Country.
The Left’s miscalculation is simply not understanding what happens when those that just wish to be left alone finally get pushed to the point they decide to get involved and put an end to this miserable business.
The pushback is growing….at what point does it turn into something the Left thinks cannot and will not happen?
Censorship is bad only when conservative speech is banned by liberals.
It’s okay when liberal speech is banned by conservatives.
who said anything about censorship?
It’s implied that it should not happen, that it should not exist. Why else make a fuss about it?
Putin does not ban conservative speech. This is why he is admired by MAGA, despite
all of the other things Putin does that run counter to the ideas of the founding fathers.
We do not admire Putin. What we do know is playing WWIII chicken with a possible nuclear exchange is a really bad idea. We do not want to see our sons and daughters sent to a senseless war that no one wanted. Had not Biden the Butcher sent Boris Johnson to squash the tentative peace deal in Istanbul back in 2022, the war would of been over, and all of this senseless death and destruction would of never happened.
The idea MAGA admires Putin is just another lie from MSM, DNC and those who want others to do the fighting and dying and not themselves.
We do not admire Putin. What we do know is playing WWIII chicken with a possible nuclear exchange is a really bad idea.
We certainly feared nukes in the hands of Ukrainians when we made that deal with them in order to get them to surrender those nukes to Russia (where they’re now aimed at us instead of at the Russian Federation the Ukrainians had them aimed at with memories of the Holdimor still fresh in living memory).
The question is: what do weclaim of value to Ukraine our US government promised them in order to get them to surrender those 3,000+ nukes and delivery systems?
Just US taxpayer checks to buy weapons with and fight wars all on their own against their most likely attacker: Russia? If we’re supposed to believe that: how much money could Ukraine have made by selling nukes around the world to fund their military and weapons – that was one of our worries.
We promised them that if they were attacked, they could expect to receive old military blankets, rations, etc? And maybe – with a different president – we’d send them some a few American weapons (with conditions on how they used them to fight their attacker) so they could continue fighting an attacker all on their own?
Did Ukraine surrender those deterrent nukes and nuclear power, while perhaps selling some of them off to Iran or the highest bidder, for an American offer like that or something similar?
A foolish agreement on the part of the gullible Ukrainians that leaves us now able to tell now nuclear disarmed Ukraine and the world “you have no cards”?
Or did we promise that American military power would replace those nukes the Ukrainians had aimed at Russia as their new deterrent and defense?
[sidebar: why would Ukraine need both the expense and obligations of NATO membership if they already had US military protection in exchange for surrendering their nukes?]
The only reason Putin is in Ukraine and we’re crying in fear about nukes again 40 years later is because Putin is no longer under the threat of nuclear retaliation from Ukraine, and three successive American presidential terms have reneged on the promises we made to Ukraine in order to convince them to surrender their nukes. And it wasn’t promises to provide blankets, old rations, Javelin missiles, or taxpayer money.
Putin isn’t all that afraid of us as he watches us levy more tariff war on Canada – another ally in our war in Afghanistan – than we do on the ChiComs who are a greater threat to us than Russia. We don’t have a record of remembering out allies who fought beside us in our wars, and Putin sees that as well.
Both the expense to the taxpayer and whatever nuclear threat there is exists because both Democrat and Republican governments have reneged on the promises we made to Ukraine because we feared them being a nuclear power.
But… it feels much better to blame it on Biden, rather than taking ownership of our feckless cowardice under three different presidents in deserting Ukraine while both parties had periods of controlling the presidency and congress.
Doing so despite the fact we watched Ukraine fight beside us in Our War in both Afghanistan and Iraq from the very first day to the last – despite the fact that was not part of the Ukraine Nuclear Disarmament Deal, they weren’t attacked on 9/11 or any time other by the Caliphate, and had no Muslim threat to worry about in Ukraine.
When the truth hurts, some decide the best thing to do is ignore it and/or blame it on somebody they already hate.
What liberal speech was banned by conservatives?
There was an anti-Trump protest in my City last week or so. It was laughable, the protesters were mostly blue haired older white women with a scattering of Beta Soy Boys. The signs were all a bunch of stupid Nazi = ICE and save our Democracy messages etc. The other than blue hair protesters were made up of some fat old black folks in wheelchairs and a couple of scarecrow looking tattooed burger flipper and pot salesman types. I’m not too worried about the opposition right now.
Google’s AI gives us this on the search term “reign of terror.” Whew, sounds so familiar to what the Dems want to achieve.
“The Reign of Terror was so violent due to a mix of external and internal threats to the revolution, a climate of paranoia, and radical Jacobin ideology led by figures like Robespierre. The Committee of Public Safety used “Terror” as an official policy to suppress counter-revolutionaries, creating a judiciary system that stripped rights from the accused and led to mass executions by guillotine, resulting in the deaths of thousands.”
If I’m not mistaken these out of control demonstrations are going on 80+ days in Portland. The real question is why have the mayor and governor allowed this level of disruption for so long.
Democrats Organize the Terrorists…that is why.
TOP to Bottom the Democrats are a PARTY OF CRIME
You can not show me one good Democrat…NOT ONE!
Dollar Bill
If I were King
Just for a day
I would crush them all down
In an open display
I would make them all beg
For their miserable lives
I would pillage their homes and take all their wives
If only I were King
Just for a day…
Guillotine. I’m really looking forward to Johnathan’s new book in 2026. In 1935 Yale’s Thurmond Arnold wrote The Symbols of Government that examines the thinking and history of many things we see as the outlines of governing ourselves. For example our flag and a judge’s dais- the bench and the bar. Johnathan’s writing will reflect almost a century between the two, and it’s bound to be illuminating. Is the left’s use of the guillotine reasonably calculated to move us forward? I say no. It’s lousy optics. It invokes what the Duke of Wellington said about the Battle of Waterloo. They came at us in the same old way and we sent them along in the same old way.
Symbols like Guillotines are used to incite the politically and culturally illiterate. Protesters enjoy dressing up, aka cosplay, with masks and Arab garb to make a point they don’t even understand they just enjoy the dressing up and the attention it brings. Paid protesters get to make a few bucks participating in the rage festivals. It’s all fun and games with no sense of how they are being used and they are too dumb to care anyway.
This is an excellent opinion that points out the facts that you may not see in your usual perusing of the news from various sources.
Thanks
OT
In reading this post and the subsequent comments at 0502 Arizona time, it is quite refreshing not to have the trolls making ridiculous comments and attacking Mr. Turley.
I’m sure they will show up soon. They always do.
For all Hakeem Jeffries blathering about “no one is above the Law”, he certainly applies to exclude himself & Democrats.
The rage of the radical left seems mostly to be scripted, with paid actors populating “people” demonstrations. This betrays the essential truth, that most people are reasonably satisfied with their personal situations. Perhaps they hoped all these illegals would supply the rage they want. But they allowed immigrants from substantially “cowed” countries, e.g., Latin America, where the people accept the the elite and their excesses. Paradoxically, putting them up at luxury hotels is just fine by them. In this sense, Illinois, California, and New York are helping the Trump by keeping the illegals in comfort. These illegals will not take up arms. The USA is neither pre-Nazi Germany nor pre French revolution.
The signs the protesters carry and those paddles the communist members of Congress hold up are paid for by someone. This is not spontaneous.
most people are satisfied with their personal situation?
I challenge you to leave your Rich Suburban area and travel across the country….where abject poverty is common!
Having read your magisterial “The Indispensable Right”, I am excited to read ” Rage and the Repulic”. I have pre-order ed it.
“They want Germany 1939.
We want France 1789.”
We are living in the 1930s. That didn’t work out too well.
That is fantastic. You will likely beheaded by your own mob.
Axios huh Turley?
How can we assist the process in having them devour their own?
Hand out baseball hats on street corners.
No need to help – it will happen on it’s own.
That’s for sure
@Wiseoldlawyer: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. “