“It turns out the Left commits relatively little political violence when you don’t count the political violence the Left commits.”
That message, delivered by conservative commentator Michael Knowles at a Senate Judiciary hearing this week, perfectly captures the threat of growing left-wing violence. While the violence is a threat, so is the Democrats’ refusal to acknowledge and condemn it. Through their silence, Democrats have created a culture in which some believe that violence and intimidation are justified or, worse, necessary.
That’s the backdrop against which voters will head to the polls in Virginia and New York City next Tuesday. On the ballot in Virginia is Jay Jones, an attorney general candidate who fantasized about shooting his political rival and imagined a Republican mother having her children die in her arms. In New York City, Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic Party’s candidate for mayor. Mamdani has openly attacked law enforcement and just the other day refused to call on Hamas to disarm or condemn it for killing Palestinians in the streets — failing, once again, to say it is wrong to use violence as a means to achieve political ends.
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Over the past two years, Americans have not been strangers to the hateful rhetoric and physical violence growing and spreading on the Left. We all remember the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump last summer, and more recently, the assassination of Charlie Kirk and celebrations of his death — the catalyst for this week’s Senate hearing. We all witnessed the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests and shooting in Dallas. These instances are not isolated, but pieces of a disturbing movement on the Left that rewards radicalism, excuses violence, and seeks to harm political opponents.
But how did we get here?
The reality is that left-wing leaders have spent years creating a culture of ignoring the law and stirring up violence as a means to protest while gaslighting the larger Democratic Party into thinking it is a First Amendment “right.” Whether you look at the lawfare used by the Biden administration to physically jail political opponents, the George Floyd “mostly peaceful” riots, attempts to firebomb pregnancy resource centers, or unchecked antisemitism, the Left has been systematically advocating violence as a mainstream tactic for the Democratic base. And some of its supporters have sadly listened.
What’s almost as disturbing as the violence is the silence that follows it. We have seen almost no condemnation from so-called moderates or “mainstream” Democrats. In the Senate Judiciary hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged introspection and self-examination before storming out of the hearing. Had he stayed, Booker would have been confronted for standing by his endorsement of the aforementioned Jones — much like his colleagues Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger has also refused to call on Jones to withdraw from the race. In fact, as of just a few days ago, Spanberger was still selling Jones’s co-branded merchandise on her campaign’s website.
As for Mamdani, he has actually been endorsed by multiple high-profile Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Attorney General Letitia James.
Other notable Democrats have also added more fuel to the rhetoric fire. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) physically disrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in a reckless anti-ICE publicity stunt. After the December murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, some on the Left turned the suspect in the killing into a celebrity and internet crush. Ocasio-Cortez sympathized with the suspect, saying, “People interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them.”
Of course, we cannot forget the 2020 image of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) standing on the steps of the Supreme Court shouting that the justices “released the whirlwind” and would “pay the price.” Two years later, post-Dobbs, a woman was arrested on charges of an assassination plot against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Democrats remained silent throughout the harassment of Jewish students on college campuses and the sickening “Globalize the Intifada” chants. Rather than calling out this vile, antisemitic rhetoric, 14 House Democrats sent a letter demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate of Columbia University who is thought to have been a ringleader of the anti-Israel protests. And 113 House Democrats voted against a resolution condemning the Boulder terrorist attack. When two Israeli Embassy staffers were murdered in Washington, D.C., Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) refused to respond, only later issuing a vague statement condemning “violence” without even mentioning the victims.
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These examples only scratch the surface. It is increasingly clear that the Left can only hear one message right now, which is to “Resist Trump,” even if that means putting American citizens, the very people Democrats swore an oath to defend, in danger.
Our country will continue down this dangerous path unless voters begin to reject the Left’s violence, intimidation, and lawlessness. A good place to start would be at the ballot boxes in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York in November.
Jessica Anderson is the president of Sentinel Action Fund, a conservative Super PAC focused on turning out absentee, early-vote, and “day of” voters.
