Below is my column in USA Today on the rising support for political violence, particularly among young voters. Citizens are being desensitized to violence, even murder, when committed for a good cause.
Here is the column:
Across the country, a chilling shift is occurring. Political violence has become a twisted form of virtue signaling. Mahatma Gandhi is out and Luigi Mangione is in. For an increasing number of young people, nothing signals your values like a willingness to kill others for them.
For decades, being nonviolent has been the touchstone for many on the left. Something is changing. On my campus and others around the country, students are rationalizing violence and even idolizing assassins.
A recent Emerson College poll shows that 4 out of 10 voters between the ages of 18-29 (39%) view Mangione’s role in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as “acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable.” Other polls show a troubling number of liberal voters consider political violence justified, including polls showing 40% of young people embracing political violence in some circumstances.
For college students, the rationalization of the killing of a Charlie Kirk or a Brian Thompson is now a litmus test of your movement bona fides. I have heard exchanges where students identify with accused assassin Tyler Robinson, who wrote, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”
This week, UC Irvine instructor Matt Goldman came under fire for a posting showing the picture of conservative Nick Shirley with the menacing observation “Someone can do the funniest thing just before the Kirkiversary.” There was a time when political assassination was viewed as anathema, particularly among academics.
To put it simply, violence is in vogue.
Hollywood isn’t helping our political violence problem
Hollywood is commoditizing political violence. Many conservatives were critical of the movie “One Battle After Another,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, as glorifying domestic terrorism and fueling liberal paranoia.
Other actors seem eager to make their films part of a political rage fest. “Spider-Man” actor Andrew Garfield actually said that he hoped that his new movie, “The Uprising,” would make billionaires scared, declaring that “I hope that if any billionaires watch it, they’re scared s—less.”
Garfield wanted to take this film as his own bona fides with the mob, demonizing the rich. He apparently forgot Spider-Man’s motto, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Others are more direct. Lexi Alexander, director of the 2008 Marvel film “Punisher: War Zone,” triggered a firestorm Sept. 1 with an X post featuring Mangione’s face superimposed on Batman’s bat signal. The posting featured a new article’s headline: “Bank of America vice president killed in Times Square stabbing.” The vice president, Erin Piacenti, 32, left a 5-month-old daughter who will now grow up without a mother.
When people noted the obvious that Alexander, who bills herself as a “Palestinian filmmaker,” was seemingly celebrating the death of bank officer Piacenti, who was just back from maternity leave, Alexander accused them of being Israeli propagandists, or “Hasbara bots.”
In a now-deleted post, Alexander dismissed criticism that she knew about the executive being a new mother and said it was enough at the time that she was an executive because “it sounded like another Luigi situation.”
For years, politicians, pundits and professors have fueled political rage by claiming that those with opposing views are seeking to end democracy, bring back the Confederacy or turn citizens into slaves of the oligarchs. Such apocalyptic claims give a sense of license to people to free themselves from all social and moral constraints, allowing them to hate completely and unreservedly.
The saddest aspect of this trend is what it says about our hold on not just our civility but our humanity. The irony is that the arc of the moral universe, famously described by Martin Luther King Jr., is being bent back in the name of perverted notions of equity and justice. By demonizing others like corporate executives, many on the left are now free to enjoy gratuitous violence, even the killing of a new mother in Times Square.
In “Rage and the Republic,” I write about the fear of the founders that democracies historically devolved into what Benjamin Rush called “mobocracies.” John Adams put that history in its starkest terms: “there never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.”
The founders watched as the French Revolution, occurring shortly after our own, unleashed a blood-soaked “Terror” as a population engaged in a spasm of violence against aristocrats, clergy and then themselves.
Maximilien Robespierre would legitimize the slaughter by telling citizens that violence was noble and mercy was weakness. He explained that “Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue.”
Past movements from the French Revolution to the Cultural Revolution to recent genocidal campaigns in Europe and Africa show that a dark element rests deep within us that can be released when we are sufficiently angry or afraid.
In my book, I call it the “Saturn Gene.” During the French Revolution, journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan observed that “like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.” It is an inexorable pattern where movements release long-suppressed rage only to destroy those who led the mob to collective acts of murder and mayhem.
With influential figures and even political leaders fueling the rage, we can no longer ignore the growing appeal and acceptance of political violence. This country has never allowed the Saturn gene to become dominant in our body politic. However, as the citizens are increasingly conditioned to accept political violence, we are dangerously resembling not our Revolution 250 years ago, but that of France.
If we are to proceed down that road, citizens would be wise to consider the words of Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, one of the most important voices of the French Revolution. When he was asked what he had done during the Revolution, the old abbot pondered the question and answered: “J’ai vécu” (“I survived”).
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Is there a word in English for a person who relies on a source that has been spectacularly wrong countless times over years?
“Talarico is leading Paxton and Texas is on the verge of electing a Democrat”
Recent primary polls — weren’t even close.
Final Harris/Trump polls — some had Harris up 4, others had her winning some of the swing states (all of which she lost).
Then the real howler: 2016 — with predictions as high as 99% that Clinton would win the electoral college.
Anyone really surprised? Got an entire generation who celebrates murder, mass murder, the collapse of the nuclear family, openly wants genocide against the Jews, and open calls for the dismantling of the American Republic.
They cry about how terrible their lives are but I do not think they appreciate how good they have it.
The facts of Professor Turley’s comments with others remain:
Many of those under 40 see violence as acceptable to solve political problems.
Many judges interpret the law through the lens of their political views.
Many see the bedrock of our society, the Constitution, as needing big changes.
Many view a purely emotional perspective of governance as logical.
Many, if not most, have little understanding of human history. This is fatal.
ALL of these are not good.
One remark on Gandhi. His nonviolent protests were made at a time of European, particularly British, exhaustion with war. In another time and place, his assignation would have been celebrated by one group or another.
“Something is changing.” At least since the tragic wounding of then Representative Gabby Giffords I’ve been writing numerous public officials and attorneys (multiple times to professor Turley but not always posted/no reply) of what has changed and what has not. In 1980 the FDA approved the expanded use of added artificially cultured “free” (can cross the blood brain barrier, as opposed to natural ‘protein bound’) monosodium glutamate (MSG) which can aggravate (e.g., extend and/or intensify) practically harmless brief individual sub-acute (nearly subclinical) non-IgE-mediated food (minimally) allergy reactions (which mainstream medicine still fails to recognize, research, practice and teach as true allergies) to turn them chronic and deadly dangerous, long-term (months, myself, to decades, most others it seems). We now have two and a half generations (not years; not decades) of young (relative to me) adult Americans who’ve been ingesting added MSG all of their lives, many with parents who preceded them, even through public school meals. Young males are generally more affected than females. For me it begs this question: how can any young American adult be held fully legally responsible for any of their bad acts after ignorantly and innocently ingesting that brain-damaging, mind-altering FDA approved food poisoning all of their lives?
To continue to ignore that reality is to perpetuate and accelerate a kind of violence (e.g.. school shootings, political, domestic and suicides) that doesn’t even require a true ‘motive,’ just chronic mild brain damage. To decline to post my comments is not only ‘hypocritical’ of the professor, it’s stupid. Charles G. Shaver; CGS
There is no reason to believe anything the Left / legacy media says given their history of hoaxes (ala manipulating Americans)
– The Rural America Can’t Live Without NPR/PBS Hoax
– The ICE Detains Five-Year-Old Hoax
– The Hegeth “Kill Everybody” Hoax
– Trump “Destroying” White House Hoax
– Photo of Starving Gaza Baby Hoax
– Israeli Troops Murdered Food-Seeking Palestinians Hoax
– Trump Tariffs Will Explode Prices Hoax
– Maryland Man Hoax
– Black Newborns Much More Likely to Die If DoCs Is White Hoax
– Elon Musk Nazi Salute Hoax
– Mass Hysterectomies Performed on Immigrants Hoax
– The All-White Trump Party Hoax
– Springfield Bomb Threat Hoax
– Trump Called for Liz Cheney to Be Executed Hoax
– Violent Crime Down Under Biden/Harris Hoax
– Arlington Cemetery Hoax
– Kamala Was Never America’s Border Czar Hoax
– Russia Collusion Hoax
– Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Hoax
– Jussie Smollett Hoax
– Covington KKKids Hoax
– Very Fine People Hoax
– Seven-Hour Gap Hoax Russian Bounties Hoax
– Trump Trashes Troops Hoax
– Policemen Killed at Mostly Peaceful January 6 Protest Hoax
– Rittenhouse Hoax
– Eating While Black Hoax
– Border Agents Whipping Illegals Hoax
– NASCAR Noose Hoax
– Georgia Jim Crow 2.0 Hoax
– Trump Assaulted Secret Service Agents and Grabbed Steering Wheel of Beast Hoax
– MAGA Assaulted Paul Pelosi Hoax
– COVID Lab Leak Theory Is Racist Hoax
– Hunter Biden’s Laptop Is Russian Disinformation Hoax
– Joe Biden Will Never Ban Gas Stoves Hoax
– COVID Deaths Are Overcounted Is a Conspiracy Theory Hoax
– Mass Graves of Native Children in Canada Hoax
– Trump Killed Japanese Koi Fish Hoax
– Trump Told People to Drink Bleach Hoax
– Hamas Hospital Hoax
– If Reelected, Trump Will Execute People Hoax
– The 900,000 Kids Hospitalized with Coronavirus Hoax
– Dozens of Environmental Hoaxes
– The Alfa Bank Hoax
– Libs of TikTok Murdered Non-Binary Teen Hoax
– Aaron Rodgers Sandy Hook-Truther Hoax
– “Bloodbath” Hoax
– Biden “Sharp-as-a-Tack” Hoax
– Iowa Poll Hoax
– “Melania’s Doc Is a Box Office Flop” Hoax
You captured it all in one reply! Thank you!
democrat = fascists
they must be destroyed.
The quickest way…END Federal Aid to cities, states, non-profits, colleges
Outlaw Public Unions!
remove power from DC…as centralized power can be purchased. cut 50% of all Federal Spending
Put a bullet in your head.
Fascists on the left have always used violence to advance their agenda. And while they threaten and attack billionaires, they remain silent on Taylor Billionaire Swift, Michael Billionaire Jordan, Oprah Billionaire Winfrey, Alex Billionaire Soros, Neville Billionaire Singham, and Reid Billionaire Hoffman. Apparently for those on the political left, only certain billionaires are deserving of scorn and vitriol.
What billionaires deserve their scorn and vitriol?
Come on now – admittedly there is no excuse to commit murder BUT with regard to desensitization of Darren and Karen Average, everyone knows random stranger violence has become prevalent and non-sensational for decades now. Violence also became a common TOOL of everyone (including Darren and Karen) for political disagreement since Trump 1.0 with the rise of ANTIFA, the ST GEORGE FLOYD riots, the political riot of J6, assassination attempts on DJT during the 2024 campaign, and the continuous rhetoric of politicians stoking furor with phrases against various institutions (SCOTUS, etc.). In addition, SOCIAL MEDIA makes sure we can all oggle idiots on cruise lines acting like Zoo Animals, etc. Just another day in the JUNGLE of America as the low IQ lash out.
“there never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.” (JT quoting Adams)
The DSA (now housed in the D’s “big tent”) wishes to eliminate 3 of the 4 institutions created by the Founders: the Supreme Court, the presidency, the Senate. Those three are a check and balance on the power held by the fourth institution: the House.
The DSA/D’s don’t wish to eliminate the House. In fact, they want to massively increase the House’s control over every element of government. Why is that?
Because they wish to seize control of the House — and thus to rule via a tyranny of the majority.
In fact, they want to massively increase the House’s control over every element of government. Why is that?
If I didn’t know better that’s exactly what Trump & Co. are doing. You certainly have a big blind spot.
Sam, are you experiencing delusions of grandeur?
Do you actually realize how microscopically small the DSA is? The right treats them like the soup du jour of existential dread. First, it was the communist-marxist bogeyman. Now it’s the socialist-fascist-woke menace. It must be exhausting living in a permanent state of imaginary terror.
The real reason Republicans are staring down the barrel of losing both chambers of Congress isn’t some vast left-wing conspiracy—it’s because they’ve managed to achieve absolute zero while in control. Trump promised lower prices and “no new wars,” yet inflation is up and his foreign policy is a train wreck. Meanwhile, the left is actually listening to what people want. Look at Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He is outperforming Trump in popularity because he is delivering tangible, visible results instead of empty rhetoric.
Trump just cycles through a carousel of lies while the public slowly purges itself of the MAGA fever dream. It’s like watching a WWE fan finally realize the match is entirely scripted. The entertainment value wears off the moment you realize a folding chair to the face won’t pay your grocery bill.
It is getting embarrassingly easy to see through Professor Turley’s desperate rage-baiting. With the Supreme Court crushing Trump’s mail-in ballot scheme, gas prices soaring, Trump’s failed Iran negotiations, and the AI boom collapsing, it’s no wonder Turley is fabricating wild theories about left-wing “political violence” to distract his audience.
Conveniently, Turley ignores the literal meltdown happening on his own side. Right-wingers are currently losing their minds at Justice Kavanaugh for denying Trump’s attempt to rig the midterms. Turley won’t cover that because it exposes the actual source of radical rage and the immediate, unhinged calls for civil war whenever the right doesn’t get its way.
Meanwhile, Trump is frantically deflecting blame for the energy crisis onto Ukraine and Biden, completely ignoring that he started this mess. His panic makes sense: the midterms are looking disastrous for Republicans. Democrats are positioned to take both houses, Talarico is leading Paxton, and Texas is on the verge of electing a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The economic and strategic reality is grim, and Trump has zero leverage. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is depleted, Saudi Arabia can’t cushion oil disruptions due to the East-West pipeline outage, and the Houthis control a vital shipping choke point. Because the primary naval resupply hub in Bahrain has been destroyed, US carriers are bottlenecked and forced to rely on distant supply lines. Trump has completely lost control of the region.
Perhaps Turley should focus on the actual, compounding crises facing this country instead of peddling cheap fear-mongering to prop up failing right-wing morale. The walls are closing in on Trump, and no amount of distraction can hide it.
Oh oh, George is at it again. I wonder how many books George has published? Z E R O… that really really hurts eh George? All George can peddle is … nothing.
slipping.
Your propaganda is transparent.
I am just waiting for the first s@@tlib to call you a ‘nazi’ for posting this and calling for your demise.
Just more leftist love and tolerance.
antonio
Turley is a Nazi for posting that. We’re calling for his demise!
“Citizens are being desensitized to violence, even murder, when committed for a good cause.” (JT)
Including triple murder of one’s own children — if that “good cause” is: I’m feeling blue.
Well.. to be fair, the constant mass shootings, tv violence, and ongoing faux rage and manufactured outrage from those on the right contribute a LOT to the disensitivity of violence. This is not new. But Turley seems to be making it out to be a bigger deal than it is.
I mean, those on the right are downright dismissive about the widely viewed violence of Jan 6. It’s almost like it was….a normal thing. Crazy huh?
To be fair?
“Turley seems to be making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. ”
ya no big deal, people dying, country torn apart by radicals. the usual in commie countries.
commie countries. Like the USA?
When will PQTUS tell the muslHAMs to go home?
‘‘Why’’ the increase rise in political and social violence in the United States ? Reported Communist Goal #42 provides another plausible explanation:
1- Reported Communist Goals designed to undermine and overthrow the U.S. were listed in the January 10, 1963 Congressional Record. Manifestations of these destructive goals have appeared over multiple decades and remain active and influential during 2025.
2. These 45 Goals may serve as an organizational framework, template, or plan by Totalitarian Ideologists seeking to influence, create turmoil and chaos, disrupt daily U.S. citizens’ lives, and destroy core U.S. Institutions.
3. Totalitarian Ideologists are found among individuals who support various political beliefs such as: Communism; Socialism; Marxism; Wokeism; Progressivism; Liberalism; Leftism; Jihadism; Antifa; or similar ideologies.
4. The ultimate objectives of these specific Totalitarian Ideologies involve weakening and dismantling the foundational Institutional structures that have historically underpinned American Society’s structure, ideals, and beliefs.
5. Numerous political analysts and government representatives appear to lack awareness or understanding of the 45 disruptive goals documented in the 1963 Congressional Record, as well as their relevance to recent social, political, educational, economic, sports; and religious developments in the United States.
6. Furthermore, these same individuals seem unaware of Goal # 42’s existence when they ask:
‘’Why’’ is political and social violence increasing in the USA?
This lack of awareness regarding Goal #42 along with the specific details and implications of ALL 45 goals may contribute to the persistent confusion of many individuals over basic causes of unrest and instability in the country.
As a result, the connection between ideological strategies and rising tensions often goes unrecognized, leaving gaps in understanding and response among policymakers, other government representatives, and the public.
7. Therefore, it is both reasonable and prudent for all United States citizens to become familiar with these 45 detrimental goals listed in the 1963 Congressional Record.
8. Finally, a credible explanation for the increase in political and social violence in the United States can be identified within the specific content of Communist Goal #42, which states:
Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use “united force” to solve economic, political or social problems.”
===================================================================
PS – The following titles and links to other Substack articles of mine provide more details about all 45 Goals and related social and political unrest.
1. The Enemy Within: 45 Communist Party Trojan Elephants are being ignored in the adjoining room — the Parlor
https://donbradyphdpsydncsp.substack.com/p/45-communist-china-party-trojan-elephants/comments
2. “Social Justice Wokeism” reawakens, repackages, & reactivates 45 Communist Goals published in the January 1963 Congressional Record. These goals are designed to erode and topple core U.S. Institutions
3. The Winds of War Continue at Hurricane Force – Seems an Undeclared and Unrecognized WW III is Occurring, but Under an Atypical Scenario?
Don’s looking to advertise his crazy skills here.
That is a remarkable amount of hyperbole, even for Turley.He writes, “For decades, being nonviolent has been the touchstone for many on the left.” As opposed to those on the right? January 6th was a massive demonstration of right-wing political violence. Just yesterday, Nancy Mace called for a public execution. We even have regulars in this forum who openly call for civil war the moment they feel their “values” are threatened.
Mangione is a unique case because the American healthcare system is universally loathed. A widespread lack of sympathy for a health insurance CEO is not an endorsement of violence—a crucial distinction Professor Turley conveniently fails to make. As usual, his analysis is defined by what he leaves out. The killings of both Brian Thompson and Charlie Kirk were widely condemned by the left. Were they justified? No. Did they merit public sympathy for the victims? To many, also no. Again, refusing to mourn is not the same as endorsing violence.
The right was so outraged by this lack of public grief that they demanded people be fired or arrested for failing to show sufficient sympathy. That is an astonishing level of authoritarian rage—rage that Turley predictably ignores.Here is the reality that Turley refuses to face: when Donald Trump dies, a massive portion of the country will be glad, and they will refuse to perform the corporate mourning the right demands. Trump will receive the exact same sentiment most dictators get when they…expire.
Oh Oh George is back! Raring to go, but not on all cylinders.
His blog, he can write what he wants, doesn’t need your approval, nor has he sought anyone’s approval of what to write or not.. And considering you’re a wack-job trying hard to sound smart and controversial – you always fail. You’re a whiner. Folks might read the first line and know its you whining again about Turley premier status, something you can never attain. You’re not a lawyer or an academic and that eats you up to the point you loose it everytime. You’re just an stupid old fart with too much time. Your welcome.
That’s a lot of talk for saying nothing of value. You sound almost jealous.
Nothing of value? LOL! Oh George stop it, you’re acting like a petulant adolescent. Again.
Why would you bother responding if it didn’t sting eh?
Sting? Hardly. You just can’t help yourself responding to my posts. But you’re right I shouldn’t bother to respond to your posts. They offer nothing of value.
This is perfect… he claims to post something of value, but he can’t state what that value is. It really does sting, why would you respond then?
He posts value … now that’s funny George. Value … geeezzz….
Whew! Read just a couple lines and … just crazy shite.
Everything is crazy when the right can’t muster a coherent argument.
What’s there to argue in that heap of nonsense George?
January 6th was a load of feds and fed contracted proxies cupcake. Just own it and stop crying Neville. Your feeble attempts to justify said violence is laughable. And careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
ROFL!!! Riiiight.
x, you’re so stupid. I learned that word from Mr.Says-stupid-a-lot.
Did the protesters of January 6th kill anyone? Now how about the George Floyd protesters? How many died in those protests?
Has anyone from the J6 protest justified killing such as the “Palestinian” filmmaker who was happy the 32 year old new mother working as a vp at BofA was murdered? A 32 year old new mom! Working as a VP! Do you know what working as a VP in a large corporation means? It means she never made a decision regarding Israel or Jews in her life and yet your side celebrated her murder. Now you compare that with J6???? You are a fool.
Hullbobby, since when does violence only count if there is a body count? Violence is violence.Assaulting over 140 police officers on January 6th with flagpoles, stolen riot shields, and bear mace is violence. Hunting down members of Congress is violence. January 6th was a massive showcase of right-wing political violence—the physical manifestation of the “civil war” rhetoric the right has been masturbating to for years. It was disorganized and poorly executed, but the intent was clear, and the right absolutely celebrated it.
The right openly embraces violence the second they deem it politically justified. We see it constantly:
The hammer attack on Paul Pelosi by a conspiracy theorist.
The call for violent retaliation for the Mar-a-Lago search warrants.
Prominent elected officials like Nancy Mace openly calling for public executions.
Trump himself joking about violence against opponents or telling groups like the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
Professor Turley never touches any of this because it completely guts his manufactured narrative that political violence is an exclusively left-wing problem.
The hypocrisy is astounding. Rather than advocating for peaceful, democratic solutions, the modern right consistently defaults to intimidation and violence. They don’t view the Second Amendment as a constitutional check; they view it as a first resort to threaten anyone who challenges their worldview. When your immediate response to a political disagreement is to threaten bloodshed and demand the most extreme punishments possible, you aren’t engaging in politics—you’re peddling extremism. That’s the Republican right in a nut-shell.
“The right was so outraged by this lack of public grief that they demanded people be fired or arrested for failing to show sufficient sympathy.”
If you are going to pontificate to us moral inferiors at least get it right. People didn’t demand that leftists be fired for merely refusing to mourn but because of their open celebration of the event.
Tell me sir, I hold many views in common with Charlie Kirk, do I deserve to be murdered? Do those that disagree with your self proclaimed morally superior beliefs deserve to die?
I doubt you will give a direct answer, you’ll just call me a ‘nazi’ and while eating your arugula salad.
antonio
Nazi! BTW its capitalized stupid.
Grammar nazi is not Mr. Says-stupid-a-lot. They are two completly different unhinged people.
Reverential capitalization! And BTW — while you’re giving lessons — you forgot an apostrophe and a comma.
I didn’t write this?? Someone is playing a game.
Antonio,
Nice try re-writing history, but let’s look at what actually happened.
People weren’t just targeted for “celebrating”; individuals were actively doxed, harassed, and threatened with termination simply for refusing to participate in the mandatory corporate mourning your side demanded. The outrage machine didn’t care about nuance—it demanded forced compliance.
As for your melodrama about whether you “deserve” to be murdered: no, you don’t. See how easy it is to give a direct answer? No one deserves to be murdered, and the killings of both Brian Thompson and Charlie Kirk were explicitly condemned by the left. The fact that you have to invent a fake reality where the left is cheering for your demise just to make yourself feel like a victim is pathetic.
There is a massive difference between supporting murder and refusing to shed a tear for people whose life’s work actively harmed others. You can cry about “moral superiority” all you want, but you aren’t entitled to anyone’s fake sympathy.
Now, if you’re quite done with your temper tantrum, I’m going to go enjoy my delicious pancakes.
I don’t find this poll to be convincing evidence.
“It was a day of love.”