With the recent second attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump, it's becoming apparent that we live in interesting times, in the "ancient Chinese curse" sense. But are we, in fact, just returning to some kind of historic norm?
Political violence has been around as long as there have been politicians. A student of old Rome, especially the last years of the Roman Republic and throughout the years of the Empire, will remember that those times were marked by political violence and "hate speech." Assassination was a frequently-used tool, not just in the case of Julius Caesar but many others as well, from the Gracchi brothers to Numerian.
The language used in speeches at that time was not exactly, shall we say, diplomatic. In his second "Phillipic" speech, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote of Mark Antony:
...what instance was it not of moderation to complain of the conduct of Marcus Antonius, and yet to abstain from any abusive expressions? especially when you had scattered abroad all relics of the republic; when everything was on sale at your house by the most infamous traffic; when you confessed that those laws which had never been promulgated, had been passed with reference to you, and by you; when you, being augur, had abolished the auspices, being consul, had taken away the power of interposing the veto; when you were escorted in the most shameful manner by armed guards; when, worn out with drunkenness and debauchery, you were every day performing all sorts of obscenities in that chaste house of yours.
While that is snappy stuff indeed, it's important to remind ourselves of Mark Antony's reaction to Cicero's barbecuing of Antony in the Senate, which ended up with Cicero's head and hands being nailed to the Rostrum.
Wars have started through acts of political violence. Remember old Caesar; his assassination ushered in a generation of conflict, the second Triumvirate, the wars between Antony and Octavian Caesar, which resulted in the final fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. The French Revolutionary Wars ended with the rise of Napoleon, plunging Europe into conflict, and a few decades later, the assassination of a minor Austrian archduke plunged the world into a war that ushered in such devastating munitions as the machine gun and chemical weapons.
This begs the question: Do the two attempts we have seen on the life of former President Trump represent a return to some kind of historic norm?
The rhetoric around those attempts from the political left has been, to put a fine point on it, troubling.
Previously on RedState: HOT TAKES: Left and Liberal Media Shame Themselves Over Second Trump Assassination Attempt
Adam Kinzinger, Vindmans, MSNBC Deliver Insane Responses to Second Trump Assassination Attempt
The 20th century, we must note, saw attempts on the lives of presidents, even while they were in office. William McKinley was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1901, and John F. Kennedy likewise felled by a rifle bullet in 1963. President Ronald Reagan was shot while in office but survived. There is quite a list of 20th-century presidents who were the target of plots that never came to fruition, as well.
But two attempts in a matter of weeks, both planned, both averted by the narrowest of margins; that's not something we have seen before.
There can be no doubt that we are seeing an increase in political violence, almost all perpetrated by those on the political left. In the last decade, we have seen the George Floyd riots, the "Summer of Love," and even portions of American cities taken over by armed mobs. Within the last few months, we have seen antisemitic, pro-Hamas protests all across the nation's college campuses.
The left — Democrats and their fellow travelers — love to toss accusations of violence at Republicans and the "far right," which to modern Democrats would appear to mean anyone to the right of Leon Trotsky. But it was the left that rioted, looted, and burned in the summer of 2020. It was the left that took over college campuses last summer in paroxysms of antisemitic hatred. And it was a creature of the far left who intended to take a shot at former President Trump on September 15th. It is rarely, if ever, the right that has instigated these acts of political violence in this 21st century; it is the left that is the party of revolution, of rioting and looting, of arson and attacks on cops; are we also now seeing them become the advocates for political assassination?
Also, we must remind ourselves that wars have begun with such acts. Donald Trump, whatever anyone thinks of him personally, has a broad and dedicated following. Were any assassin with leftist political leanings to succeed in killing him, they may be flipping a switch that will lead to events unprecedented in American history.
