Wayne Beebe (Letter to the Editor: Selective Interpretation) asks for the “full record,” then ignores the record in front of him.
My column did not argue that right-wing political violence never happens. It argued that today’s left has built a permission structure for violence by calling Trump a Nazi, fascist, pedophile, rapist, traitor, and existential threat, then acting shocked when unstable people believe it.
We recognize this pattern when jihadists radicalize online: propaganda, grievance, dehumanization, target selection, then violence. Why pretend the same mechanism cannot radicalize Americans? The loony wing of the Democratic coalition has spent years telling citizens that Trump and his supporters are not merely wrong, but evil. Some listened.
Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, then became a folk hero to parts of the online left. Nicholas Roske tried to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Trump has faced multiple assassination attempts, including the White House Correspondents’ Dinner suspect, whose manifesto reportedly called Trump a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor” and named officials as targets.
That is not what Beebe calls “civic responsibility.” That is assassination logic.
Yes, America has seen horrific right-wing and white-nationalist violence. Condemn it. But that history does not excuse left-wing violence now, nor give Democrats, media figures, or activists a moral waiver to demonize opponents until some fanatic reaches for a gun.
If progressives want a serious conversation, they should look in the mirror and ask who radicalized whom. Political murder is evil whether the target is a synagogue, a church, a CEO, a justice, or a president.