It appears that words no longer matter to Nancy Pelosi. For years, Pelosi and other Democrats have blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for their “inciteful rhetoric.” In seeking Trump’s impeachment, Pelosi bellowed that the use of “words such as a cry ‘to fight like hell'” produces violence and added, “words matter. Truth matters. Accountability matters.” No longer. After all, she explained, “we can’t take responsibility for the minds that are out there and how they hear it.”
Democrats and the media have long applied a double standard to political violence. CNN made “fiery but mostly peaceful” protests a national joke in describing riots that caused massive property damage and deaths. CNN’s Chris Cillizza even denounced Trump for using the word “riots” to describe the violent protests in Kenosha in 2020. Violence on the left cannot be riotous; it is righteous.
Pelosi has shown the same relativity. When a mob destroyed statues, Pelosi brushed aside the criminal conduct and said, “People will do what they do.”
Pelosi’s latest pivot comes as Democratic leaders whip supporters into a frenzy over the impending death of democracy and the need to “fight back.”
Despite objections from many of us that the rhetoric was pushing supporters to violence, Democrats have continued to call for resistance to tyranny or oligarchy.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.) declared, “Elon Musk is seizing the power that belongs to the American people.” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D, Md.) claimed on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Musk and Trump were conducting a “rapidly expanding and accelerating coup.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) appeared to be working off the same talking point and declared that a “coup” was being carried out. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) warned that Musk was “taking away everything we have.”
Many are using the very words that Pelosi previously said were not just impeachable but criminal incitement. Democrats ratcheted up claims of a “coup” and called for Democrats to “fight in the streets.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) has called for people to take to the streets to save democracy and posted a picture brandishing a baseball bat.
Jeffries has also called for Democrats to fight “in the streets.”
Former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. Liberal sites sell Antifa items to celebrate the violent group.
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.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Cal.) said, “We are here to fight back.” Sen. Cory Booker (D., NJ) called on citizens to “fight” and declared, “We will rise up.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., TX) yelled, “We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it.”
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D., N.J.) added: “God d—it shut down the Senate!…WE ARE AT WAR!”
Such rhetoric can inspire unhinged citizens who actually believe that this is a war against a coup. It is the type of rhetoric that can prompt anti-Republican Nicholas John Roske to try to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh or Sanders supporter James T. Hodgkinson to try to massacre Republican members playing softball.
Democrats have admitted that the rhetoric is causing many to consider violence. One House Democrat told Axios, “Some of them have suggested … what we really need to do is be willing to get shot.”
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?’”
However, when such arson and other violence occur, Democrats are mystified that anyone would point to their own rhetoric and responsibility. When the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk was found to have scrawled antifa messages on his bullets, the response was again denial and deflection.
At CNN, the network repeated its “fiery but mostly peaceful” approach to reporting. It told CNN viewers that there were “phrases related to cultural issues.” The wording was so painfully awkward and overly evasive that it only caused greater attention from viewers. CNN later admitted that the writing involved antifa references.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) was even angry with those acknowledging that the shooter was motivated by leftwing causes. He posted on X: “What f**king difference does it make if this murderer was left or right. Pull yourself together, read a book, get some exercise, have a whiskey or walk the dog or make some pasta or go fishing or just do anything other than let this algo pickle your brain and ruin your soul.”
Imagine if a MAGA supporter shot a Democrat. Would Schatz be calling for library and yoga visits?
However, Pelosi insists that words no longer matter. She may be speaking the truth when it comes to the left and the media. They do not matter if they convey righteously violent messages. It then becomes little more than “phrases related to cultural issues.”
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of the best-selling “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
“It appears that words no longer matter . . .”
Here are words that do matter, and that provide a (twisted) moral justification for Leftist violence:
It would have been justifiable to murder Goebbels because he was a fascist.
Therefore —
Since the police are fascist, let’s have a “summer of love.”
Conservative college students are fascist. So let’s destroy their displays and shout down their speakers.
Musk is a fascist. So let’s torch his dealerships and assault Tesla drivers.
Kirk was a fascist. So assassinate him.
If you do not see the causal connection between those words and that violence, I suggest you stay far away from a hot stove.
We have now reached an inflection point. You are either appalled and disgusted by this act of evil or you are rejoicing over Charlie’s murder. You cannot be riding the fence on this issue. If you are celebrating and okay with this you are the Fascist! And if you are in anyway responsible for educating our children you must be identified and fired
It is not justifiable to murder someone who is an Actual fascist.
The Nazi’s were tried at Nurember and elsewhere for their crimes – not their ideology as despicable as that ideology was.
Amen. May we all come to realize that this is not about words. This is not about something to analyze or parse. This is about faith. Harvard empowered an atheist to be head chaplain. John Lennon sang nothing above us, only sky. The Ivy League adopted codes of conduct that permit mobs to call for the genocidal extermination of the Jewish people. Biden, Pelosi, Clinton, Obama, and their gang teach our children that God endowed them with the unalienable right to willy-nilly kill babies a day before birth. The FBI infiltrated Catholic Masses. This is not about words This is satan. I say this even to those who revere satan; they are the ones who need to hear it most. Let us pray. And let us give thanks for the blessing of Charlie Kirk. Amen.
@Stephen
Respectfully, it isn’t about that, not for everyone. I am not a religious person, never have been, and yet I manage to have solidarity with your other sentiments. Let’s not create another unnecessary wedge, we need to stand together in what really matters to everyone, regardless of spiritual beliefs.
We have freedom of religion in this country, by all means exercise it, but let’s not let our broader shared humanity get lost in the shuffle.
James – mostly I agree with you.
But Stephen is correct that we have demonized religion.
As Madison noted in Federalist 51 – “If men were angels”
We are not our govenrments and institutions are made of flawed, imperfect and more rarely even evil people.
The fact that bad people have done bad things in otherwise good institutions does not condemn the institutions.
I am not particulary religious either, regardless adams was correct that we have a constitution and system of laws for a religious people. Self Govenrment can not work if more than 10% of people do not share the same common core of moral and ethical values. Most people get those through religion
@John
I don’t disagree with your statement either. You are absolutely correct, and it is terrible. Just saying that we are now at a point where what we are dealing with transcends all of that – this is pure human decency, possibly even pure human ‘beingness’ we are talking about. Madness vs. its opposite.
“This is not about something to analyze or parse.”
Then you proceeded to analyze and parse.
You and the Left have something fundamental in common: You reject consistency, and embrace contradictions.
I don’t know how we could ever let the dems anywhere near majority power ever again, they stand alone in their madness. And yes – ‘let them’ – they may have forgotten, but they work for and are beholden to we the people in this country. ‘No kings’ my a** – they are absurd, despicable, and demonstrably vile, seemingly without exception. Didn’t used to be this way, and I do not know what we do with those in younger cohorts whose minds may be irreparably destroyed. Do not trust the modern left ever again, no matter how pretty the words.
I just remember watching Nanci Pelosi in 2002 as she talked the day after the Dems lost the midterms and the Republicans gained 7 seat (I believe). She had no real self awareness then and she talked with the news people like they were co-conspirators (they are) and totally misread what Americans think. I developed an intense dislike of her that day. She and her co-conspirators have only grown worse. The hate and lack of empathy to a murdered man and his family makes me think that the Dems are a party made up of many sociopaths and an unknown number of psychopaths. I think we will have to tread carefully but forcefully to recapture the country from this particular madhouse and its inmates.
I see that the Professor is realizing this also and it only grows worse.
“makes me think that the Dems are a party made up of many sociopaths and an unknown number of psychopaths. “
Are those characteristics more prevalent among politicians?
I am MAGAA1st
I am a Christian
I am a Husband
I am a Father
I am a Grandfather
I am a Veteran
I am an American Patriot in every sense of the word
I am a digital warrior
I say do not bring a bat to a gun fight
I say MAGAA1st is ‘still’ awaiting the first arrests of any glo-BAAL-ist for any of the crimes committed by the uni-party membership of the last 3-4 decades.
I say aim small miss small, lead the runners a tad, of which there will be many men dressed up as women running. Unfortunately, it “will be” a target rich environment in America as Americans have forgotten our forefathers hopes/dreams of what this “last bastion” of a Constitutional Republic should have become.
BUT, saying all that, MAGAA1st will ‘allow’ the left to make the 1st move, then we will finish it.
I abide in a relatively middle size town in NW Texas, where the fools that were hired to teach our children and service the community in many businesses have been found out by their cruel words uttered recently/brazenly about “Charlie”. Patriots will remember ‘Charlie’ as a good decent man just talking to young people. The fools have taken to Social Media showing themselves for what they are AND most are losing their jobs/lively hoods here and in surrounding cities. It is eye opening as the rush to condone such rhetoric about a good and honorable man. It gives me no pleasure in seeing these ‘fools’ out themselves, but, “pride goes before destruction” are not just words, it is a warning from the most high.
again,
MAGAA1st awaits the first arrests, hell we await the first indictments of the filth in every city, county, state and federal gov’t entity….
11b
Shocked you found and posted such a flattering photo. Not sure I would give her even that.
Thank you for laying it on the line, Prof. Turley…. Diplomatically.. yet.. clearly there is no way to chop logic here. The word ‘fascist’ was etched on the fatal bullet… it is one of the favourite words constantly tossed about by Dem ‘leaders..’ One Dem Rep just posted on X recently in July: “Freedom from kings. Freedom from fascism. Power to the people forever.” ..just the kind of illogical and irrational inspiration unhinged individuals need to hear….
Asked Grok to translate the lyrics of “Bella Caio” in English
The leftist battlecry talks about finding the Nazi “invader” and being willing to die as a “partisan”
This should remove any doubt about what his views were and the fact that it was 100% about politics.
Here are some words that do matter: The past and current words of Democrat politicians, the liberal media, and liberal academia are responsible for inciting the rage and violence that enabled Charlie Kirk’s murder. It is clearly apparent that they can’t control their rage. They are true enablers of violence. They have Charlie Kirk’s blood on their hands. Until they recognize this and verbalize their penance there can be no forgiveness, ever.
@Vincente: The Ds have a desperate desire for unlimited power. Their desperate pleas for gun control have two identifiable origins. The first, you have noted – they can’t control their (own) rage. The second is historical – one of the first things would be dictators do is to disarm the citizenry.
They/them/dem believe they/them/dem are safe.
BREAKING: A friend of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Charlie Kirk, confirms to The Guardian that he was a “leftist”
The friend says he was left-wing on all issues and he became extreme on politics
He was the only left-winger in the family.
This is hatred so dark that it cheers for bloodshed.”
You made that up as usual.
Came from the news you fool. Try looking it up.
Typical lib, you hate the truth.
Live with it, you’re people who kill Mr Kirk, just like the killer for Prez Trump. Thank God he was a bad shot.
By the way fool, do you have a real name?
“Came from the news” ????
You can’t possibly be serious ???
Nobody here believes anything from the “news”.
We all know that there is absolutely nothing in the “news” that is believable.
Everything is completely fake.
Get a grip, you ignorant fool.
You didn’t ever try to prove me wrong.
You LOSE.
Must be george
What do you need – Video of interviews with friends and family – there are some, there will be more.
Your best scenario is mental illness – likely Paranoid Schitz. He is the right age.
You murdered Charlie.
All around correct. Great column. The greatest worry is what will they do if they win and get back in power. Their platform is in place. You know it. It is a mixture of what Biden did: more illegals with citizenship, back to wind turbines, etc, together with reinstatement of Woke, a trans-a-rama, another incompetent cabinet, a passive president, war against business, lots of new taxes, and more.
They are still convulsing over the loss to Trump, and will do everything never to lose again. They will ignore laws they don’t like, and already have the judges in place to do it. Billionaires will pay a tribute to the party. They will maintain their love affair with hate, and deny any responsibility for anything that goes wrong – just as Pelosi so instructs.
The wild card is hate. Can they transfer it from Trump to another Republican? If they attempt too soon, it will be diluted, too late and it won’t stick. Tricky.
Nothing offered here today is new to the majority of your readers JT. The question now is what do you suggest the normals do to reverse the mental damage suffered by so many citizens? This started with “shout downs” being accepted in institutions by professors who clearly subscribed to anarchy. The political organization you do/did support is responsible for the majority of damage done to the republic, there is no democrat party. So I ask you as an educator, how do you and how will you reverse the damage done to the broken minds of so many young?
Before the Blue Bananas arrive I ask all the normies what must we do to remove the virus so many Americans are infected with?
Reach out to those that you know and talk about the present situation. Share Prof. Turley’s site and encourage them to read and think about what they are supporting.
I am sure you can fix this because I don’t think there is on root cause for this ideology. These radicals seem to share some combination of a love for anarchy and marxist/socialism. This guy looks just like every other young, clueless, Antifa-type, radical drifter. He doesn’t appear to have any direction in his life but he’s looking for someone to blame and lash out at. He’d be the first person screaming “fascist” but he would have no idea what that word means, and even less about who he’s yelling at.
Since the last election, Democrat Party leaders have been throwing a giant temper tantrum as an outlet for their impotent rage. When they say that democracy itself is being threatened, they really mean that their own power is being threatened. The open border was supposed to be their ticket to the unlimited power that they believe to be their birthright. And now they feel utterly threatened by folks like Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk, who indeed do pose a threat to their power. In the marketplace of ideas, conservative beliefs and policies are far superior to and far more popular than those of the Democrat leadership. But rather than reassessing their own policies, they are doubling down on them and riling up other people to do their dirty work of destruction and now, it seems, even murder.
My oversight: I did not intend to post the above comments anonymously.
Have you seen the videos of libs/dems going into a park and screaming till they can’t. It’s crazy.
Yes. And the funny thing is they think they are so original. Back in the 70s there was literally a book called The Primal Scream where this came from.
Kim.
I’m from that time and remember it well
I’m old (-:
Pelosi, the witch from San Scatcisco, once again proves that Democrats should never again be allowed within 52 factorial cubed parsecs — a stupefyingly long distance — of governmental power or authority. Absolute and full stop.
To claim that the toxic atmosphere of hate and division that they and their Fourth Estate amunuenses have created, utilizing words as weapons of mass poisoning, in no way contributed to the assassination of Charlie Kirk is an insane lie. But Pelosi is, after all, a Democrat, so her concocted deflection of responsibility should come as no surprise. Again, refer to the above notation of long distances.
As a San Francisco native (1950) I would like to point out that Nancy Pelosi and her family moved here from Baltimore. She and the rest of the Democrats that moved west ruined what was a beautiful state.
They clearly know what they are doing and are doing it intentionally. Yet they play dumb when confronted.
It’s Nancy Pelosi who no longer matters.
Bull…
For years, Pelosi and other Democrats have blamed President Donald Trump and Republicans for their “inciteful rhetoric.”
Professor Turley regularly said much the same thing as his fellow Democrats when Trump said something that offended him – he just used a different choice of words.
Show me where Professor Turely hurt you on the dolly?
The aging gang that runs the Democratic Party has nothing but rhetoric to offer. That works just fine as long as they carefully avoid getting down to proposing solutions to problems.
For Shameful Examples, just search for “BlueSky Celebrates Kirk Death”!
I saw it… they people are out of their minds.
Hate is the only thing they have now.
These politicians are shameful. No remorse at all
Hardly new. Orwell coined it as ‘doublethink’, Newspeak” and ‘doublespeak’ in his novel 1984 describing the left taking over the government. Orwell meant it as a warning for future generations, but he left is using it as a ‘how to manual’ to install a socialist dictatorship.
Doublespeak is a term derived from George Orwell’s concepts of “doublethink” and “Newspeak” in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. It refers to language that deliberately obscures or distorts meaning, often used in politics and advertising to mislead or manipulate the audience.
These politicians are hateful, evil and sick. That doesn’t surprise me I have known it for decades. What surprises me is their willingness to put their hate, evil and sickness on full display for everyone to see. In the past they at least tried to hide it.
This isn’t just a political opponent that espoused different ideas than the liberals failed polices who had is life brutally taken, he was also a husband and father of two young children. To ignore that is to be a sick monster.
The worse part Jake.
They murdered and man who just talked to people.
I hope the dem party never retakes power. After seeing how they feel about murder.