Political violence has become an almost accepted issue in this country these days. It used to be something that we thought existed mostly in countries like Nicaragua. Or even Russia. True John Kennedy was shot in 1963, and his brother Robert five years later. Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, but he recovered from his wound. Those killings and the attempted assassination occurred in an 18-year time span Then we had a period of over 40 years without a major figure being the target of assassination. What has changed in recent years to bring about a surge in political violence? I have some suggestions.
First, Donald Trump was elected as President in 2016. Many people hated him because he was not from "the Establishment," meaning he did not have a political background, and he was successful as an independent businessman. His first term was hampered by many charges from his opponents, such as the Russian election interference hoax which was finally exposed and dismissed by the independent counsel Robert Mueller. But an atmosphere of hate was accentuated by these accusations, and he was subsequently defeated by Joe Biden in the next presidential election.
After almost four years and following the presidential debate, which was disastrous for Biden, Trump was elected for a second term in 2024. New accusations were then thrown against Trump. He was called a dictator, and even "Hitler." His supporters were named fascists even by prominent Democrats. Kamala Harris was asked if she thought Trump was a fascist. "I would say so," she replied. Do these people know about the concentration camps of Hitler and the Nazis? The comparison is absurdly dangerous.
This is incendiary language that can lead to violence by susceptible members of society. Indeed, one nut-case tried to assassinate Trump during a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. His bullet clipped the president's ear and missed killing him by only a couple of millimeters A second attempt followed shortly thereafter but was thwarted by alert secret service personnel. Even more recently Charlie Kirk, another major Trump associate, was assassinated.
I was in Virginia at the end of October before the last local election. The candidate for Attorney General of that state was Jay Jones, who just was elected. It was revealed that Jones had sent a text to a fellow delegate three years before that called the Virginia house speaker and his family "breeding little fascists." He wrote that if he had bullets, he would shoot the Republican house speaker (Gilbert), Hitler, pot pal (whoever that may be.) He would put two shots in Gilbert's head. Further he later said that he would kill Gilbert's children in front of his wife. The governor elect said Jones’ language was despicable, but Spanberger stopped short of withdrawing her support. Jones had an election year conversion, and stated that he was "very, very sorry" for his words. Democratic Illinois governor JB Pritzker donated $20,000 to Jones' campaign and said that everyone "makes mistakes."
"Mistakes," my hat! It's horrendous remarks like these that lead deranged individuals to commit dastardly crimes. Let's hope that bringing some of this rhetoric to peoples' attention will help to reverse some of the evil that is currently being committed.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."-- author unknown.
Peter Gilderson, Madison.
