Violence Has a Side – America Needs to Stop Pretending It Doesn’t

Saturday night's alleged assassination attempt shocked the country. Any act of political violence is unacceptable, no matter who the target is. But at times like these, we need to speak honestly about political violence in America. One shocking event doesn’t erase the pattern we’ve been living with for years. And it doesn’t change the fact that violence in this country has been rising in one direction far more than the other.

I want to think that most Americans, conservative, liberal, and independent, want the same basic things: safety, stability, and a country where ballots, not bullets, settle disagreements. We will never get there if we keep lying to ourselves about where the political violence is actually coming from. It is not “both sides.” It has never been “both sides.” Pretending otherwise is part of why the problem keeps getting worse. You don’t need a think tank or be a rocket scientist to see it. Just look at what has happened in plain sight.

In 2022, a man broke into the home of the Speaker of the House and attacked her husband with a hammer. He intended to kidnap the Speaker of the House, who wasn’t home at the time. According to court filings, he was driven by right-wing conspiracy theories about political leaders and secret plots. That wasn’t a random crime. It was political violence fueled by lies. What was Trump's reaction? Trump mockingly said, “Nancy has a big wall around her house. Of course, it didn’t help much with the problems they had, did it?” Of course, that got a laugh. He also promoted a false conspiracy theory, claiming the broken “from inside to the out” suggesting it was a “breakout”, a claim that contradicted the evidence and the police footage. There was no condemnation of the attack from Trump. Other Republicans, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Arizona candidate Kari Lake, made remarks perceived as mocking.

On January 6^th, the world, including me, watched thousands of people storm the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of electoral votes. Indictments describe individuals motivated by lies about the election. They were joined by right-wing militia-aligned groups who came prepared for confrontation. The goal was unmistakable: to overturn a constitutional process by force. Whose lies did they listen to? Trumps!

In Michigan, a group influenced by right-wing anti-government ideology plotted to kidnap the Governor of Michigan. Trump actually cast doubts on the seriousness of the plot, saying at a rally, “Maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn’t,” and later indicated he would consider pardoning the convicted plotters, calling the case a “railroad job.”  

In Minnesota, the danger became undeniable. In June 2025, Vance Boelter impersonated a police officer, went door-to-door to Democratic lawmakers’ homes, shot State Sen. John Hoffman nine times, shot his wife eight times, and then murdered former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. This wasn’t a random crime; it was the predictable result of years of rhetoric by the right portraying public servants from the wrong side of the aisle as enemies. Everyone, including Trump condemned the killing, but then the Right started spreading false information about the shooter. The false reports said that the shooter was an ally of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Elon Musk shared tweets saying “the left” had killed Horton. U.S. senator Mike Lee tweeted multiple times that the suspect was a “Marxist” and blamed the assassination on Waltz. Donald Trump Jr. falsely claimed that the shooter “seems to be a leftist” and was a “Democrat”. Right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich claimed that Walz had ordered the assassination. Laura Loomer called the shooter one of “Waltz goons” and called for Waltz to be “detained” and “interrogated” by the FBI.

Across the country election workers have been threatened and harassed by people who have believed the lies about election fraud. These are normal Americans who were put in harm's way because of the election lies, and who were telling those lies?

Let's not forget the white supremacist marching in Charlottesville carrying torches and chanting antisemitic slogans. Trump did not condemn them. Why? I think it was because they were marching for the racism and bigotry that Trump brings to the table.

Then came the pardons for those charged with the January 6^th insurrection. Critics rightfully so warned that pardoning people who tried to influence an election outcome was sending a message that political violence might be an excuse.

These are not isolated incidents. In fact, there are many more, from church killings to the Charleston Emanuel AME Church by a white supremacist, to the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh again by a white supremacist. There have been 35 anti-Muslim attacks on Mosques in California alone since 2005.

And here is the part that many commentators are afraid to say: there really is no equivalent pattern on the left. None. Sure, the left has had a few crazies, but the left is quick to condemn such action and they certainly are not encouraging it. There are no left-wing movements storming government buildings to stop constitutional processes. No President has told left-wing militias to “stand down, but stand by”. There are no Black or Muslim supremacists shooting up White churches. There is no left-aligned equivalent of mass-casualty attacks on synagogues.

And if we are again going to be honest, we have to acknowledge something else: this didn’t escalate in a vacuum. Political violence intensified in the same years that Donald Trump became the dominant force in American politics. That is not an accusation, but what the timeline shows. In my view, the rhetoric he used, the way he labeled entire groups as enemies, and the way he framed political opponents as threats to the nation, have encouraged the environment where violence became more likely. I am not saying that every supporter wanted this. I’m not saying every voter agreed with the tone. But the truth is when a political leader repeatedly describes immigrants as “invaders” and "criminals", journalists as “the enemy of the people,” and political opponents as “dangerous,” it changes the temperature of the country. It convinces a small but volatile minority that force might be justified.

Saturday evening's alleged assassination attempt doesn’t change that. If anything, it proves that point: political violence grows when we refuse to confront it honestly. It grows when we pretend the danger is two-sided. It grows when we let lies, conspiracies, and intimidation become part of our political bloodstream.

I think that it is the President and the party that controls Congress’s job to ensure the safety of not only the American people, but every person that is currently on our soil. The Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress have done nothing. Until all of our schools are safe, all of our places of worship are safe, and all of our neighborhoods are safe from racial violence, I don’t think any president has the right to put his safety above the American people.