Below is my column in the Hill on the rise of rage politics. There was barely a respite from the rage rhetoric after the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the sniper attack on the ICE facility. Gov. Gavin Newsom is back this week to calling his opponents “fascists” while other Democratic politicians are back to calling ICE “fascists.”
Here is the column:
“Let your rage fuel you.” Those words from Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger captured what I have called “rage politics” in America.
Across the country, politicians and pundits are fueling rage, encouraging voters to embrace it. If you turn on the television, you would think that Darth Sidious had taken over: “Give in to your anger. With each passing moment, you grow stronger.”
I do not think for a second that Spanberger supports violence. She was sharing with voters the “sage advice” of her mother, which she said she has applied in her political career. However, the anger is all around us.
Recently, I debated Harvard Law Professor Michael Klarman, who declared, “I am very angry” and “I am enraged.” In denouncing ICE as “thugs” and saying Trump supporters are “fascists,” Klarman explained that the rage had a purpose: “to shake people out of their insomnia.”
Rage, however, comes at a cost in politics. I recently wrote a book about rage and free speech, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” It discusses our history of rage politics and how it has led to violence and crackdowns. Rage gives people a license to say and do things that they would not otherwise say or do. It is addictive, it is contagious, and it is dangerous.
We are seeing the result of rage rhetoric all around us. That includes the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the sniper attack on ICE agents in Texas this week, in addition to violent protests around the country.
Rage allows you to deny the humanity of those you disagree with. Recently, two sisters were caught on video destroying a memorial to Kirk. Kerri and Kaylee Rollo were later arrested. However, they immediately opened a GoFundMe site to call for donations for “fighting fascism” and Kaylee wrote “my sibling was fired from their job.” Hundreds of donors gave the sisters thousands of dollars as a reward for the latest such attack on a Kirk memorial.
For many months, some of us have warned that violent rhetoric was crossing over into political violence. Democratic politicians have spent months ratcheting up the rhetoric against ICE agents, who have suffered more than a 1,000 percent increase in attacks, including the recent sniper attack.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the day before that attack, signed a law that purports to bar ICE agents from wearing masks in California. He openly mocked them, asking, “What are you afraid of?“
Joshua Jahn answered that question the following day in Texas when he fired at ICE personnel, only to shoot three of their detainees.
Previously, Newsom had warned voters that Trump was building ICE into a personal army that might be used to suppress voting in the upcoming midterm elections. “Do you think ICE is not going to show up around voting and polling booths to chill participation?” he said.
Others added to the rage rhetoric by declaring the impending death of democracy and lashing out at ICE. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who has used violent rhetoric in the past, declared that ICE agents were acting like “slave patrols” in hunting down immigrants in the streets.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) used a commencement address to denounce “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons… just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
Others, like Boston Mayor Michele Wu, echoed the claims that ICE personnel are “Nazis” and called ICE Trump’s “secret police.”
The rage rhetoric (and claims of a fascist takeover) has been adopted by a wide range of Democratic politicians, often using the same catchphrases of an “authoritarian playbook.” In our debate, Professor Klarman warned that this was all “authoritarianism rooted in old-fashioned white supremacy.”
As discussed in my book, politicians and pundits have long sought to ride the wave of rage into power or influence. Rage is a powerful narcotic. The problem is when it becomes an addiction. There is always a certain percentage of the population that will believe such hyperbolic claims.
Those are the people who end up trying to kill jurists like Justice Brett Kavanaugh or politicians like Trump. It was also seen in the assassination of Democratic politicians earlier this year in Minnesota.
With the recent assassination and attacks on ICE, some are expressing regret. One of the most telling was Hillary Clinton on MSNBC, who said that we should “stop demonizing each other” while blaming “the right” for most of the hate. It was a curious call from a woman who called Trump supporters “deplorables” and suggested that they should collectively be forced into “deprogramming” as a cult. Just before the interview, Clinton had embraced the “fascism” mantra and, during the interview, she went right back to attacking Republicans.
A new poll shows that 71 percent view political violence as a serious problem, but the rage rhetoric continues unabated.
The perfunctory calls for lowering the temperature after the latest shooting are unlikely to last. Key figures in public life keep injecting rage directly into the veins of American politics. It is hard to go “cold turkey” in breaking that addiction, but you first have to want to do so. There is no indication that our rage-addicts are anywhere near a step-program for recovery. If history is any measure, this fever will only break when voters clearly reject the politics of rage.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the bestselling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
I’m not quite sure how we end up with California’s Gov. Newsom being portrayed as a hero, while engaging in the exact same “childish” 6th-grade rhetoric, name-calling, and antics that the media destroys Trump for. (most of us learned in 6th grade that this tends to escalate…)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/newsom-threatens-to-punch-trump-in-the-face-and-defends-maga-trolling/
“…Izzy Gardon, [Newsom’s] communications director, and Brandon Richards, who heads Newsom’s rapid-response efforts online. At the governor’s behest, the duo have launched a combative communications campaign using their personal and official GovPressOffice X accounts to belittle, ridicule, and jab political opponents, starting with Trump and filtering down to Republican legislators in the California statehouse. Vice President Vance is a ‘dumb dumb,’ White House aide Stephen Miller a ‘fascist cuck’ and ‘Voldemort.’ and the Customs and Border Protection chief for the El Centro sector ‘looks like my lesbian step mom..'”
https://sfstandard.com/2025/08/21/newsom-online-war-maga-trump-press-office/
Lin,
And that is the guy some are pinning 2028 hopeful WH win on?
LOL so true Upstate
Yes, that was my point. OK for me, but not for thee.
Are we turning into a society of armchair jurors, –where what is acceptable for morality, criminality, and civility depends on who the actor or speaker is?
I read an article this morning from the left wing Vox News discussing a study of the effect of moderation by Democratic candidates. The result was that moderation would have no effect on their ability to win elections. They just lost the once impenetrable blue wall and they come to the conclusion that a little moderation would be of no benefit to their electoral chances. I say that they have really come to believe that a bullet to the head is the only proper solution. At one time they declared that violence was no solution but now they bail violent groups out of jail charged with setting fire to a courthouse. The only reason that they believe that moderation is not the right pathway is because after all that has happened they know that when they mouth moderation the people won’t believe them so why even try? In this they are correct.
TiT,
They will not reverse course from the whole progressive agenda they tied themselves to. So all they have left is hate and rage. Common sense, logic and reason would dictate them to change course but they keep loading the revolver with five shots hoping the hammer will always drop on the empty chamber.
“Across the country, politicians and pundits are fueling rage, encouraging voters to embrace it.”
Both sides of the political isle, Professor? Or overwhelmingly, one particular flavor of elected politician and pundit? They Who Shall Not Be Named?
The Anti-Nationalist, pro-Invasion, extra-Constitutional, Democrats (and their Repub. conspirators) were excitedly and undemocratically trafficking in millions of Climate-refugees from 2021-24 with gvt. funding and of course they oppose scrutinizing, assimilating, or deporting them. How dare Federal Law Enforcement upset their grift! But the enraged Anti-Fasci messaging works quite well for them at this time, as the Tarifflation, foreign embarrassments, and anti-Science accusations are feeble in comparison. Exploiting the due-process violating, racist disappearing of Newcomers of color by ICE with their media pals and insane voter base is an opportunity and shouldn’t be wasted. Nothing genuine about their expressed concerns over “rights”, “norms”, or abuses, merely political hay to make. This Golden Age of Rage works well for Dem politicians ahead of the mid-Terms, continuing the debasement and erosion of the USA, and actively working to re-take power and control.
“to shake people out of their insomnia.” Did he mean waking up people from their not being able to sleep?
Compared to the rest of the population, I like to think those who would resort to political violence are a very small minority. However, one cannot look into another’s heart and see what evil may or may not lay there. Does not help when politicians are fueling this rage to the point where some think it is okay to resort to violence if they disagree with another on a particular point of view. I do not consider all Democrats to be a threat to society but these unhinged far leftists are concerning. Best to avoid them for your own safety.
It’s these next level of the strengthening civil war. It didn’t start with Obama he was merely the Manchurian candidate installed to solidify and enable the rage rhetoric. “Get in their faces” was his catch phrase followed by the walking colostomy bag, Mad Maxine, “tell them they are not welcome “. Now the rage phrases are the normal responses from the democrat traitors. The shooting has already started. How long before it’s open warfare? I give it about 3 or 4 more weeks as we get closer to the election. I expect attacks on the polling places in the “red” areas to suppress voter turnout.
Turley gives Spanberger far too much credit. She does indeed embrace political violence. She’s in favor of letting men play sports with girls. Allowing men into womens’ intimate spaces – this, after a boy in a dress has raped a teenage girl THREE TIMES in Loudoun County alone. She’s long been on the payroll of the progressives and is only portraying herself as “moderate” to get votes. Virginians will be very, very sorry if she’s elected – and it looks like she will be, thanks to all the anti-Trump sentiment in Northern Va. If she is, Virginia will start circling the drain as a viable place to live and raise children, and I say this as a Virginian who was once proud of my homeland, who has lived there for 60 years, but now I feel I have to leave. Between the increasingly higher taxes and the ideological madness, I just can’t stay there anymore.
Turley gives Spanberger far too much credit.
Agreed.
I think Winsome is going to win VA. Recall that Youngkin won in 2021 against Terry McAuliffe with 63,688 votes, with Youngkin receiving 50.58% of the vote compared to McAuliffe’s 48.64%. It was precisely Trans / boys in girls bathrooms in public schools and violence by those boys against girls in NoVa, and the uprising of parents, that pushed Youngkin’s election for the win. The Left is doing all of the wrong things right now, and Spanberger is the political face of the Left.
Unfortunately many of the rural areas of Virginia display Confederate flags (less than a mile from our home in fact, deep in the rural depths of VA). It is unlikely these people will vote for Winsome for all of the wrong reasons. It’s like asking Democrats to vote for Winsome because she is an immigrant, a black woman, a self-made woman, versus Spanberger who is the face of privilege (and Arianism).
If Virginias voted on values, they would vote for Winsome because she truly represents the best of America.
We even put a Winsome sign in our very large and visible front yard. So far no one has stolen it nor burned down our house. But we are waiting
Rage isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Some things are worth getting enraged about.
Like when an illegal alien rapes and murders your wife or daughter.
When Klarman says that one purpose of rage is “to shake people out of their insomnia” he is following in the footsteps of Al Gore who famously said in an interview that he purposely exaggerated facts in order to convince.
“I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are…”, Al Gore, Grist, 2006
More importantly, it enabled Gore to become very wealthy.
The free speech advocate seems to have a huge problem with Democratic politicians having freedom of expression. Preferring that people not say certain things is what dictators do.
I love the smell of shutdown in the morning. Rage on.
You seem to not know the difference between censorship and criticism. He’s criticizing Democrats as a way to urge them to talk about actual policy positions and the rationales for those positions.
But Democrats can’t because their polices are unpopular. So for the past two decades they’ve resorted to name calling. First it was Islamophobes. Then homophobes. Then racist. Now Democrats have moved on to Nazi, Fascist, despot, dictator, etc.
It keeps you enraged so you don’t have to talk about Democrats failed and unpopular policies.
Democrat Marxist Useful Idiots seem to have a huge problem with understanding that First Amendment rights don’t come with a guarantee that says they will not be criticized for how they choose to exercise that First Amendment right. What a concept! The free speech advocate can use his rights to criticize your free speech!
But then, these are the same Marxists who didn’t have problems with a dictator telling social media which Republican politicians, news media, doctors, etc they were to censor, kick off their platforms, etc.
What happened to Mussolini should happen to Putin.
If Turley wants to condemn the harsh, rage-filled language in politics he should have a go. If he can only point at Democrats as if he’s in the Night of the Living Dead, that makes him one of the zombies. How can you leave out a man at a televised funeral service saying he can’t forgive his enemies, he hates his enemies. What if such a man had previously demonstrated his ability to direct a mom at a target and spawn violence. Of course, now he has a Justice Department and an enemies list.
It takes an incredible level of blindness to not see the rage language as overwhelmingly one-sided.
One can observe lots of rage at any Trump rally.
Care to share. All I’ve seen is happy people. Not like the crazy left.
hey dustoff, good one, managed to get 14 words in and an insult. a record for an local idiot.
Prove me wrong Ano.
DustOff,
Good point. All the videos I have seen have been happy, cheering crowds. I did see a video of some antifa types following a couple of senior citizens, calling then names, insults, obscenities they were the one’s displaying hate and rage. If it were not for the fact the PD were providing security and escorting the senior citizens to their vehicles, I think the antifa mob would of resorted to violence.
You nailed it Upstate
In the genweb archives there are testimonials and newspaper articles from small Southern towns across this great nation of ours pre and post civil war. In these documents you will find a mirror image of what is happening today. Instead of a single shooting, stabbing or beating, it’s now escalated into mass events. The driving forces are the same, hatred; I assume this is mostly due to weaponry of the times and population density, 42M vs 340M. Let’s all hope and pray that these modern day communist wannabes fall short in their attempts to destroy our nation. I recall reading one of the testimonies describing a small town in Alabama where men had taken to wearing their pistols even to church to protect their loved ones. Too bad someone didn’t have their pistol in Michigan the other day. Total Insanity
I agree. It is long past time for law abiding Americans to defend themselves. I in no way suggest offensive actions against anyone but if attacked one should be fully prepared physically and emotionally to fight back especially in defense of one’s family. ” Let he who has no sword, sell his cloak and buy one.”
ATF stated 700 million guns in circulation and no one had a gun in Michigan.
Wise up and carry.
Seems rage fuels political ambitions! Look at the Senators who speak for hours and when they have an mic and audience don’t ask questions but rant. It is now the new ‘political talk’. A few come to mind and watch closely and you will see they don’t want interaction and discourse but a platform!
The futility of violence was first addressed in the book of Genesis, when Cain’s act of violence against his brother Abel didn’t result in a resolution or satisfaction of their dispute, but in alienation from God and a life of wandering.
As Harry Reid replied to a reporter when questioned about the lies he spoke about Mitt Romney, “It worked didn’t it.”. The Dems find a benefit in fueling rage and violence. They gave up competing with Republicans over ideas and policies along time ago. Stoking hatred and violence is just another step in their pursuit of a one party authoritarian state.
@T Moore
Neither is the Professor, neither am I, neither are most who comment here. You are a troll, and you don’t conceal it well (most don’t, not much acuity required at the engagement farm).
Greeting james. Accuse and then deflect. Unusual response. Why bother responding then? You have documentation to prove the allegation that I am a habitual “troll”? I don’t know what that is, but it seems to consume your mind. Not surprisingly you automatically resort to a personal attack because… why?
Those who are without sin, cast the first stone. Or something like that.
“Accuse and then deflect. Unusual response.”
You are an expert on usual responses. Usual responses are always there, right at the front of your mind in pretty much every one of your posts. Your original post this morning, in fact!
“Attacking people because they are not like you, cool, calm, collected. Don’t have the background you claim to have and are not MAGA.”
You cosplay here as the Karen of a thousand faces… Nothing To See Here, Please Believe Us, Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™
Freud wrote over a century ago that channeling was a form of self-confession displayed by his psychiatric patients to try and deal with their guilt.
Don’t change a thing! There’s still a chance you can win the 2024 presidential election with this – and surely if you continue the upcoming midterms are an easy win and in the bag!
As we continue to see murderous attacks on unarmed innocent people in the “Rage” era, we must face the fact that the sterilization of killing by the selective and weak consequences plays a critical role. A prime example is the refusal of the SA in NYC (Manhattan) to prosecute a violent attack on a 73 year old female. The responsible party is now free to attack again!
Had the victim of that vicious attack leveled that leftist, we might be thinking differently.
Hey, what happened to my MedBed trump?
https://petapixel.com/2025/09/29/president-trump-deletes-ai-generated-news-report-about-medbeds/
Trump? What happened to the recently retired Oval Office House Plant, the AutoPen president and senior partner in Biden White House Crime LLC?
The folks who choose to deal in rage generally do so because they lack self-control, constructive ideas, and / or the ability to make cogent arguments. The ultimate answers are both educational and political. Education should focus on communication skills and values of faith, family, and freedom instead of indoctrinating students about sexual deviations, hatred, and a victim mentality. And politically, change begins at the ballot box.
“Let your rage fuel you.” Those words from ‘Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger’
It is definitely fueled by Democratic rhetoric.
Some liberal troll anon will try to deny it and blame it on Trump, but they fool no one, not even themselves. Democrats want al the power forever and will do anything to get it. Rage is just one of their evil tools.
Are you talking about the 1,000+ stooges that ransacked the Capitol Building on Jan 6, 2021 again?
Stop it, they were just doing trumps bidding, they knew not what they did.
And by their fruits you shall know them.
Such a tired trope.
Hi, if you can read, read the transcripts of the ongoing senatorial committee investigating Pelosi’ J6 committee. See if you can discern any differences. Happy reading.
Annoyingus
So if it wasn’t a planned Pelosi set up after failing to get the NG there at Trumps request, how did the FBI have 275 undercover agents on hand to infiltrate the crowd and incite the violence? As usual a total lack of critical thinking skills.
your side bombed the place
You men the people that entered after the Capitol police opened the doors?
If I didn’t know better, I say you are raging. Attacking people because they are not like you, cool, calm, collected. Don’t have the background you claim to have and are not MAGA.
MAGA? We know better: you are yet another Democrat apparatchik making a feeble effort of channeling. But hey… Nothing To See Here, Please Believe Us, Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™. Surely it’s going to work this time, here today!
In the early 1900’s Freud explained to the world what channeling was. He explained it as being when his psychiatric patients transferred their crimes, malfeasance, perversions and moral shortcomings on those they hated the most, as a form of self-confession to deal with their inner guilt.
Now, why don’t you run off and join your fellow “cool, calm, collected” protestors/rioters outside your nearest ICE facility?