Donald Trump has survived a second assassination attempt in as many months. The first, in Butler, Pennsylvania, left him bloodied in front of a huge crowd, with the real estate mogul's defiant reaction caught on camera.
Democratic politicians and media outlets have for years escalated their attacks on the presidential candidate, frequently likening him to Hitler and calling him an existential threat to democracy. The public continued to express their hatred, but for at least a few weeks they seemed to realize they needed to tone it down.
The media has spent years cultivating extremists in the hope that eventually someone will kill Donald Trump.
With a second shooter attempting President Trump's life, the left has abandoned all pretensions of moderate status. Progressives have embraced the idea that President Trump is responsible for the attack on his life and have further escalated their rhetorical justifications: They have decided that political violence should be a normal part of American life, and that only one side should wield it.
The Pennsylvania shooting in July was well documented because it happened during a public gathering, but the shooter was purposefully kept shrouded in mystery. The man involved, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had suspiciously little social media activity and authorities seemed determined to keep his motives hidden. The FBI even lied in an affidavit about his internet posts.
Trump's latest attacker, Ryan Routh, 58, has a more visible public profile, filled with political opinions. Routh's political positions are clear: He wears a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and has donated 19 times to Democratic causes. A strong supporter of the Ukraine war, he spoke to The New York Times, appeared in a propaganda video for the Azov Brigades, and expressed a willingness to recruit and fight as volunteers for a foreign country.
Despite his troubled legal history, which included a standoff with police over a fully automatic rifle, Routh managed to get permission to travel to Ukraine in 2022. He had hoped to join the Foreign Legion but was rejected due to his age.
Facebook and Twitter removed the shooter's social media accounts, but users captured some of his posts before they were removed. In those posts, Routh echoed the rhetoric of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, claiming that “democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”
While more information is likely to emerge, it's already clear that Rouse was a regular participant in and a firm believer in the extreme propaganda circulated frequently by MSNBC and the White House. When liberal influencers likened Trump to Hitler, Rouse took it seriously. When they said Trump was an existential threat to the nation and should not be allowed back into office, Rouse took action.
The media has spent years cultivating extremism in the hope that eventually someone would kill Donald Trump. In an article I wrote after the first assassination attempt on Trump, I detailed this process and predicted that the left would continue this pattern until another gunman succeeded in killing the former president.
The fact that the left no longer feels the need to pump the brakes after the second assassination attempt is a frightening sign. Joe Biden lost the first presidential debate because Democrats were unable to remove Trump from the ballot or jail him on trumped-up charges. Despite this defeat, Biden has ignored calls from his own party to step down and vowed to continue running.
When the first assassin failed to kill Trump, Biden finally withdrew from the race, in a random tweet, without any identification, that he believes was entirely spontaneous.
Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the second presidential debate, despite facing not only his Democratic opponent but also both ABC hosts. Another crushing debate defeat and yet another assassination attempt. Unable to compete in traditional electoral politics, progressives have created an atmosphere of political fear. They will jail their opponents if they can, and when that fails, resort to assassination.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time left-wing political terror has swept across America. In 1901, an anarchist assassinated President William McKinley. The 1970s saw a wave of left-wing terrorism, with more than 2,000 bombs planted by radical progressives in 1972 alone. The normalization of left-wing political violence has been largely wiped from public memory, and many of its perpetrators have risen to high positions within the ruling elite. The radical Weather Underground leader, Bill Ayers, became a professor at the University of Chicago and a mentor to Barack Obama.
The Left has always glorified and elevated extremism, including terrorists, but now it is calling for a return to an environment dominated by political violence.
In the 1930s, Spain was engulfed in political turmoil. Factions coexisted, from communists to liberals, monarchists to fascists. These groups eventually formed two distinct coalitions representing broader left and right wings. Deep-rooted cultural divisions were fueled by inflammatory political rhetoric, and assassination attempts became frequent. Spain's prime minister and several party leaders were killed, partisan militias were formed, and finally formal hostilities were declared.
When one political faction decides that violence is an acceptable tactic, the options for its opponents rapidly narrow. The left has used its media control and organizational power to paint Trump as an agent of division and hatred. But when the bullets are only flying in one direction, it becomes clear which side is to blame for the political violence that has become commonplace.
If progressives continue to feed their supporters apocalyptic rhetoric designed to provoke extreme reactions, some of them are going to take it seriously. The left is so self-righteous in its beliefs, so confident in its own power, that it truly believes it can encourage multiple assassination attempts against opposition candidates with no accountability.
Democratic politicians and their media allies are treading into extremely dangerous territory. This escalation is a disastrous game with no winners. If there are any level-headed souls left on the political left, they must stop supporting their party's political violence. The path they are rapidly traveling can only lead to a horrific outcome that no true patriot would want for this country.
