The Trump Assassination Attempt and Opposition Rhetoric Encouraging Political Violence

by
David Brady, Jr.
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This weekend a wannabe-assassin tried to kill former President Donald Trump, injuring him and two others and killing another man: Core Comperatore, who shielded his wife and daughter from gun fire. The man responsible is reported to be Thomas Matthew Crooks, who missed Trump’s head by mere inches. Crooks shot from atop a building to Trump’s right, somehow not being halted by the Secret Service. Tensions have been high since seeing it as a gross act of violence from leftists that have drummed up fear against Trump since 2016.

I don’t see this as a possible conspiracy from the DNC, Biden Administration, or whatever three letter agency folks are wont to blame. If the attempt was to take Trump’s life, one would imagine selecting a much better shot with a much more concealed location. If the attempt was to injure him in a 4D Chess move because they prefer him, this was an incredibly risky move and one that almost took his life. Neither seems satisfactory. It comes across, rather, as mass incompetency by the secret service. Supposedly they and law enforcement were informed of the strange man atop the building and did not act. But that remains to be seen as more information comes out.

Crooks himself comes across as a political and social loner. He does not appear to have social media outside of a “Discord” account. Discord is a popular online chat service that seems tragically associated with left-wing activists and violent terrorists as of late. Crooks registered as a Republican, his father as a Libertarian and his mother a Democrat. Crooks however donated to a Democrat SuperPAC after Joe Biden’s inauguration. Crooks was reportedly bullied as a high school student. He carries the general markings of a lone shooter, likely with mental and emotional problems (though this is speculation).

 It is not unlikely that Crooks could very well have been among many young people radicalized to political violence against the President. Bomb materials were found in his home and explosives in his vehicle making it likely that he was seeking to harm Trump rally participants. This hardly comes across as a “die hard Republican,” and it is worth noting that there are theories Democrats crossed party lines during the Pennsylvania primary to vote for Nikki Haley against Trump.

It is most likely that Crooks was radicalized towards political violence. It goes to show how tense the political climate is that some would feel pushed to publicly attack a Presidential candidate. Why would someone feel pushed to violence like this? Why would progressives feel motivated towards violence against conservatives and Donald Trump specifically? The answer is the media and the Democrat party. Both have sowed dangerous rhetoric about Trump and the “MAGA” Republicans that could easily sway the mentally unwell. 

Let’s take a tour through the dangerous rhetoric of the media and DNC.

First the media. Some may be appalled by the idea of the media being portrayed negatively, as everyone imagines the media to be the darlings that broke the Watergate scandal, reported on poor food conditions in the Gilded Age, and the truth of the My Lai Massacre. Never forget that this is the same media responsible for such stories as “babies being tossed from incubators in Kuwait,” “WMDs in Iraq,” and “blame the Maine on Spain.” All of them are lies. Media has little reason not to lie and fearmonger for their financial incentives. The media largely ran with the Russia-gate hoax, painting the sitting President as a Russian puppet.

The media has been wont to call Trump a fascist, The New Republic even going so far as to paint the cover of their magazine with a picture of Trump as Adolf Hitler. After the shooting, David Frum of The Atlantic titled his column as “The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator.” You can count The LA Times among the many publications that have likened Trump and his supporters as a Nazi. You also cannot forget to include everyone’s favorite propaganda rag The Washington Post as driving fervor about the former President.

The media like The Daily Beast have fear mongered Project 2025, a set of policy proposals by the Heritage Foundation for a potential Trump Administration, by associating it with fascism, authoritarianism, and policies that are not in it. They even claim it is part of a plan to overthrow the election should Trump lose. Trump has distanced himself from the Project, being as it is not officially a part of his campaign, yet media trudges along.

This provides a perfect segway to the Democrats themselves, who have jumped just as much on Project 2025. The Biden-Harris campaign has jumped on it, associating it with Donald Trump, and spouted many lies to distress progressive voters. Biden has spent the last three years calling Trump a ‘threat to democracy.’ In his infamous address at Independence Hall in Pennsylvania he called MAGA Republicans a “threat to the soul of the nation.” Even two days ago, Biden called Trump a dictator on X/Twitter (in fact multiple times).

Maxine Waters, a Democrat Congresswoman, encouraged harassment and violence against Trump in 2018. Joe Biden, during the 2020 campaign, made comments about “taking [Trump] out back.” Democrats fear monger about political violence being “incited by the Republicans” yet encourage that very thing. We cannot forget a crazed Bernie Sanders supporter who shot the Republican members of Congress practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game. CNN themselves trotted out a man who rushed the stage at a Trump event in 2016 for an interview to laude him as a hero.

There are even bizarre occurrences from Democrat leaders, including some who have tried to strip Trump of his secret service protection while drumming up rhetoric against him.

In a hyper politicized world, where politics encroaches on every aspect of American life, it’s no wonder that this rhetoric could help lead some to violence. When what you perceive to be rights look to be on the line depending on who you elect as President, some might feel under pressure. When the media and politicians have smeared Trump as a fascist, as a dictator, as a Nazi, as even Hitler himself, it’s no wonder that some view him as a fundamental threat to the country. When politicians endorse violence against their opponents (something that Trump himself didn’t do on January 6th as some Democrats may claim) it’s no wonder when those on the edge act violent.

Politics have pushed too far into everyone’s lives and the left has weaponized that in their rhetoric. When public school history classes teach us that Adolf Hitler was the greatest evil to the free world ever (though Stalin might like a word on that front), and the media tells us a politician baselessly is Hitler, no wonder a mentally unwell young man might be encouraged to resort to violence. The media certainly bears some responsibility, but journalists surely will rush to deflect blame, which is business as usual.