In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.
What if I told you 10 years ago that a man pretending to be a woman had attempted to assassinate a Supreme Court justice? And after that person was arrested, they were not sentenced to life in prison or 20 years, but to just eight years behind bars?
Would you think that was absolutely crazy?
Yeah, me too.
But that’s exactly what happened recently regarding Sophie Roske, whose birth name is Nicholas Roske. The judge in the case decided that Roske is the victim here because he will be rightly sentenced to a male prison, and being transgender just might make jail time harder.
You really can’t make this up.
“She has taken full responsibility for her actions,” Judge Deborah Boardman said before handing down the sentence.
And if that’s the case, why does that matter exactly?
Roske had purchased weapons on nine separate occasions and searched online about serial killers. The government had asked for a 30-year sentence, but the judge missed that mark by more than two decades.
To review, U.S. Marshals spotted Roske exiting a cab in front of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house shortly after 1 a.m. Roske saw the Marshals and decided to keep walking before calling the police on himself. If the Marshals were not there, what would have happened? After all, Roske didn’t travel from California to Maryland just to tour the neighborhood.
Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home armed with a handgun, knife, pepper spray, and tools needed to break in. Leading up to the arrest, Democrats and more than a few members of legacy media had implored liberals to protest outside the homes of Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices. The current Senate minority leader, who was majority leader at the time, Chuck Schumer, even said this in 2022.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” Schumer said. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
“Pay the price.”
“You won’t know what hit you.”
There are enough crazy people, like Roske, who may interpret that as a permission slip to eliminate Kavanaugh or Justice Neil Gorsuch.
“Our 6-3 extremist Supreme Court routinely issues rulings that hurt women, racial minorities, LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights,” one liberal group, Ruth Sent Us, declared on its website at the time. “We must rise up to force accountability using a diversity of tactics.”
“Force accountability.”
“Brett Kavanaugh is not in danger — unlike the abortion precedent he’s ready to overturn,” read a piece by Noah Berlatsky for NBC News that was published before the attempt on Kavanaugh’s life.
As for the Biden White House, it had signaled to protesters that it was perfectly fine to go to the homes of Supreme Court justices.
“These activists posted a map with the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices. Is that the kind of thing this president wants to help your side make their point?” Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“I think the president’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document,” Psaki responded in reference to a leaked Supreme Court document that showed the court was going to strike down Roe v. Wade. “We obviously want people’s privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president’s view would be.”
Maybe — I don’t know … instead urge protesters to march outside the Supreme Court instead of the private homes of justices, so they and their families and children aren’t put in danger?
Which brings us to Democrat Jay Jones, the maniac running for attorney general in Virginia. Recently leaked texts show Jones wishing for the death of Republican David Gilbert, who was speaker of the Virginia House when he sent the texts in 2022 to Republican Virginia Del. Carrie Coyner.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote before also saying he wanted to “piss” on the graves of other Republican lawmakers.
“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” Jones also wrote, before also wishing harm on Gilbert’s wife and children, whom he called “little fascists.”
Amazingly, Jones did apologize, but he is refusing to back out of the race. Again, this is the person who wants to be a state’s attorney general.
On cue, some legacy media outlets are attempting to downplay Jones’s violent rhetoric.
“Democratic nominee for Attorney General Jay Jones is facing accusations that he sent text messages suggesting he would like to shoot the Speaker of the House of Delegates,” reads a report by a CBS News affiliate in Richmond.
Facing accusations? He admitted to it.
On Monday, even when President Donald Trump called for Jones to drop out of the race, CNN had nothing on its homepage about the comments. Nor did the New York Times, MSNBC, ABC News, or CBS News, which did have room for a story on R&B star Coco Jones.
As for the Associated Press, the wire service went with this headline:
“Trump’s GOP seizes on violent rhetoric from Virginia AG candidate as high-stakes elections loom.”
It’s almost as if the Associated Press is making Jones the victim here.
Fox News and the Washington Post, however, did cover the story as more Republicans, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), called on Jones to exit, while former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Virginia governor against current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has not called on Jones to drop out and is standing by him.
Overall, Democrats have a real problem on their hands. A poll by the Cato Institute shows that 42% who identify as “very liberal” or “liberal” say political violence is justified, while just 9% of those who identify as “very conservative” or “conservative” feel the same way.
Breaking it down by age, 46% of those between 18 and 44 who are liberal say violence is either justified (26%), aren’t sure it is (13%), or prefer not to say (7%). Compare that with conservatives between 18 and 44, less than half of whom, compared to liberals (12%), say it is justified, while 12% aren’t sure.
We saw this play out after the execution of Charlie Kirk last month in Utah. Toxic social media sites such as Bluesky displayed thousands of posts celebrating the murder of the husband and father of two, while then-MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd, who once ran for Texas lieutenant governor, basically said Kirk had it coming.
“I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said. “I think that’s the environment we’re in. … You can’t stop with these awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”
Thankfully, Dowd was fired. But Democrats continue to go down this road. Enter former vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who last month publicly wished to wake up to news that Trump was dead. Also, enter Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), the Left’s rising media star, who has referred to Trump as a “wannabe Hitler” while directly threatening her opponents by declaring recently:
“We are not only gonna punch you back, but we are gonna knock you out!” she exclaimed. Nothing subtle there.
If CNN and MSNBC had any integrity, they would cease booking Walz and Crockett, but that just ain’t going to happen.
It appears most Democrats will not denounce Jay Jones. They want these horrific texts to go away, and legacy media, with very few exceptions, will try to make that happen.
TRUMP GIVES EARLE-SEARS THE COLD SHOULDER AS HE WADES INTO VIRGINIA RACES
It’s a permission slip for violence. A wink and a nod, even in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk.
It’s a scary time in America right now.
