Violence & Threats Come Almost Entirely from the Political Left

Anyone exposed to the news knows violence is in the air these days.  It was visible to the world in Manchester, Birmingham and London in the days before the British general election June 8.  It was visible on the baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, the other week as a Donald Trump hater and Bernie Sanders volunteer took a rifle and shot House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others while Republicans were practicing for the annual congressional ballgame.  Violence is increasingly visible on campuses from Berkeley to New England as well.

Contrary to mainstream media expectations, the violence and threats come almost entirely from the political left, not the right.  It’s not hard to find left-wing tweets advocating violence against President Trump and Republicans.  And the “arts” community contributes its share.  Comedian Kathy Griffin posted a picture of herself holding a likeness of the bloody severed head of the president.  In New York, Shakespeare in the Park’s staging of “Julius Caesar” features an orange-haired Caesar being stabbed to death by political rivals.

Now some will say that this is a natural reaction to Trump’s offenses against propriety and the allegedly harmful policies he and congressional Republicans support.  Certainly, Trump has repeatedly transgressed long-standing political etiquette, and in ways that often harm him and his party more than his opponents.  His tweet about having tapes in the White House motivated former FBI Director James Comey, according to his own account, to leak information to The New York Times in the hope that it would prompt the appointment of a special prosecutor.  Which it did, even though regulations limit such appointments to criminal cases and the investigation of Russian involvement in our election is an intelligence investigation in which, as far as we know, there is no indication that anyone committed a crime.

Trump’s violations of political protocol have also sparked a political backlash.  It hasn’t resulted in a Republican defeat yet in congressional special elections – all so far in districts Trump carried handily.  The political process provides avenues for those opposed to Trump or Republican policies – called elections.  Too many Americans have convinced themselves that they are morally entitled to use violence to “resist,” as if Trump were some reincarnation of Adolf Hitler.

At the congressional baseball game we had a brief return to normal, nonviolent politics; but it didn’t last very long.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel