Dangerous Rhetoric & Political Violence
2010
2010-03-01 Ahead of the mid-terms, Sarah Palin’s SarahPAC published an online map with crosshairs over Democratic districts. The post used the slogan “Reload”.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/10/media/sarah-palin-testifies-new-york-times
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/g-s1-62157/new-york-times-alaska-governor-sarah-palin-libel
2011
2011-01-08 Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a “Congress On Your Corner” event in Tucson. Six were killed including a 9-year-old girl and 13 were seriously wounded.
2011-01-11 Following speculation over her crosshairs map and rhetoric, Sarah Palin published a video admonishing the accusation as “blood libel”.
2016
2016-08-09 During a campaign rally in Wilmington NC, Trump remarked “maybe the Second Amendment supporters should ‘do’ something about Hillary Clinton”.
2017
2017-06-14 Not without Democrats’ share of political violence, there was a mass shooting at a Congressional baseball game in Virginia targeting Republicans.
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/majority_report_of_baseball_shooting.pdf
2017-08-11 (context – because these groups align with and support Trump) There was an organized Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. One of the Nazis deliberately charged his car into a crowd of counter protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottesville_car_attack
2020
2020-06-01 (for context) When peaceful protestors rallied near the White House at Lafayette Square to protest in the name of racial justice, the Trump administration allowed law enforcement to tear-gas protestors. The DOJ reached a settlement in 2022 for excessive force. Some news outlets reported that Trump made inquiries as to whether he was allowed to order law enforcement to “just shoot” the protestors.
https://www.acludc.org/lafayette-square-attack-timeline/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_photo_op_at_St._John%27s_Church
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/02/politics/esper-trump-protesters
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/25/donald-trump-general-mark-milley-crack-skulls
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097517470/trump-esper-book-defense-secretary
2020-06-28 Mark and Patricia McCloskey aimed firearms at protesters during the George Floyd protests in Missouri.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_gun-toting_incident
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53891184
2020-08-25 Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old at the time, drove from Illinois to Wisconsin with an AR-15 and shot three protesters in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. He was hailed by Conservatives as a defender of Second Amendment rights and was acquitted on all charges including first-degree intentional homicide. FYI, news outlets reported that Kash Patel tried to help Rittenhouse sue Biden and the media for character assassination even though he brought guns across state lines to a protest – then later in 2026 Patel admonished Alex Pretti for carrying a legal weapon before he was executed by ICE.
https://www.aclu-wi.org/justice-jacob-blake/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosha_unrest_shooting
2020-12-19 Trump posted on social media “Big protest in D.C on january 6th Be there, will be wild!”
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-19-2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-january-6-univision-town-hall/
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/january-6-committee-hearing-trump-extremists/
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/7/13/trump_summoned_mob_after_unhinged_meeting
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62140410
2021
2021-01-04 In a comment directed at officials who were not willing to overturn the 2020 election results, Nick Fuentes said on his podcast, “What can you and I do to a State legislator – besides kill them? We should not do that. I’m not advising that, but I mean, what else can you do, right?”.
A private account on X has posted the video, but due to the account being private their link will not be shared here.
2021-06-24 An OAN host perpetuated election fraud claims on a broadcast and suggested that “traitors” who “stole” the election should be executed.
2022 June
2022-06-08 Suspect Nicholas Roske turned herself in for an assassination attempt on Brett Kavanaugh and pleaded guilty in April 2025 as Sophie Roske.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/08/brett-kavanaugh-assassination-attempt-plea-00278743
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/california-resident-jailed-brett-kavanaugh
2022 October
2022-10-01 Starting in 2022, Elon Musk made it so you could pay for the blue check verification on Twitter. Then they started having issues with impersonators from other countries and increased rage bait. Research showed a significant increase in hate speech on X following Elon Musk’s acquisition in October 2022.
Remember: rage bait sells.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/02/13/study-finds-persistent-spike-in-hate-speech-on-x/
2022-10-28 Paul Pelosi was brutally attacked in his home with a hammer by David DePape.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/28/politics/paul-pelosi-attack
2022-10-28 Charlie Kirk responded to the Pelosi attack on his podcast by saying, “…why is the Conservative movement to blame for gay schizophrenic nudists that are hemp jewelry makers breaking into somebody’s home…” and then urged a “brave patriot” to post bail for the suspect.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOjDtdUDi3Q/
2023
2023-09-29 During an address at the California GOP convention, Trump mocked the Paul Pelosi assault.
https://www.c-span.org/clip/campaign-2024/user-clip-trump-mocks-paul-pelosi-attack/5124885
2024 February
2024-02-23 In a speech at CPAC Kash Patel talked about the need for an army to help Trump take America back, fight the media, fight the “deep state”, fight education, fight the border, and propagate conservative values back into the ecosystem.
https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/kash-patel-speaks-at-cpac/638926
2024 March
2024-03-28 Trump shared a photo on social media of a truck mural featuring Biden bound and gagged. In a statement, Michael Tyler said, “Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously”.
2024 July
2024-07-13 Assassination attempt on Trump in Butler PA. Ryan Routh, the convicted assailant who attempted to assassinate Trump, later attempted to stab himself in the neck after being found guilty September 23, 2025.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/closing-arguments-set-trial-ryan-routh-accused-kill/story?id=125833927
2024 October
2024-10-31 During an interview with Tucker Carlson, Trump called Liz Cheney a radical war hawk and stated, “let’s put her with the rifles standing there with nine barrels shooting at her” and “let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face”.
2024 November
2024-11-03 During a rally, Trump encouraged the idea of firing at the media by saying, “to get me someone would have to shoot through the fake news, and I don’t mind that so much”.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/03/donald-trump-rally-fake-news-00186979
2024-11-06 Mike Davis wrote on Twitter “I want to drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall”.
https://x.com/mrddmia/status/1854200785975775609
2025 January
2025-01-10 Lucy Harrison was shot in the chest with a semi-automatic handgun by her father in Prosper Texas after an argument about Trump. The father was never charged, stating the gun went off “accidentally”.
https://www.thecut.com/article/what-we-know-about-lucy-harrisons-death.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyk917xy8no
2025 February
2025-02-09 After Elon Musk indiscriminately put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, arsonists set fire to a Tesla at an Albuquerque showroom.
2025 March
2025-03-18 Arsons set fire to a Tesla showroom in Las Vegas.
2025-03-31 Violent rhetoric from posts made by Trump emboldened activists to threaten judges after courts ruled ending the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and tariffs illegal. Judges received death threats, bomb threats, malicious swat calls, doxxing, and they were posted on a wanted poster at the White House entitled “Known Get-Trump Judicial Activists”. See Trump posts May 26, 2025 at 7:22AM (search “SCUM”) and March 18, 2025 at 9:05AM (search “LUNATIC”).
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114573871728757682
2025 April
2025-04-13 Arsons set fire to Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro’s home.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/13/us/pennsylvania-governor-josh-shapiro-arson
2025 June
2025-06-14 Democrat House Majority leader Melissa Hortman and her husband were brutally killed in their home in a politically motivated attack. Investigators uncovered a manifesto targeting other State leaders in the suspect’s car.
https://www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/18843
2025-06-14 Democrat State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot in their home in a politically motivated attack. The assailant was impersonating an officer.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/08/04/sen-john-hoffman-speaks-about-his-shooting-hortman-murder
2025-06-16 Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee mocked the murder of Melissa and Mark Hortman in a social media post on X. The post was captioned with “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way” and a second post “Nightmare on Waltz Street”. The posts have since been taken down but screen captures still exist on news outlets.
2025-06-17 When the press asks Trump if he plans to call Tim Walz to express condolences for the political assassination, Trump responded, “I think the governor is so whacked out, why would I call him”, “the guy doesn’t have a clue, he’s a mess”, and “why waste time”.
2025 July
2025-07-20 Trump posted an AI generated video on social media of Obama being arrested. The video caption read “No One Is Above The Law!”.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114887992924632896
2025 September
2025-09-12 After Charlie Kirk was shot, three Democratic Oregon State Senators received bomb threats: Rob Wagner, Kayse Jama, and James Manning.
2025-09-21 During the Charlie Kirk memorial, Trump took the stage to tell the crowd, “I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them”.
2026 January
2026-01-24 Stephen Miller was implicated in accusations of encouraging DHS agents to force confrontations leading up to the killing of Alex Pretti.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/26/trump-administration-alex-pretti-shooting-statements
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/politics/stephen-miller-alex-pretti-trump
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/27/trump-stephen-miller-massacre-minnesota-shooting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcpe9YceyyQ
https://newrepublic.com/post/208362/stephen-miller-orders-ice-alex-pretti-death
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/us/stephen-miller-alex-pretti-shooting.html
2026-01-27 US Representative Ilhan Omar was attacked by a far-right activist during a town hall. After the attack, Trump responded with a conspiracy theory and accused Omar of “staging the attack”. This was not the first time he had used conspiracy to turn fault away from far-right political violence, as he had also done this after the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife, the violent assault of Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and after the insurrection.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/29/politics/ilhan-omar-trump-conspiracy-theory
https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-faces-federal-assault-charge-attack-rep-ilhan/story?id=129675896
2026-01-30 Florida Republican James Fishback commented during a morning show that Don Lemon was “…lucky that he’s not getting executed in the public square”.
2026 March
2026-03-12 A Michigan synagogue was attacked.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/michigan-synagogue-shooting-03-12-26
2026-03-12 One person was killed and two more were wounded at ROTC Old Dominion University after a gunman with a history of political violence opened fire.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/15/us/mohamed-bailor-jalloh-old-dominion
2026-03-17 Pete Hegseth’s pastor Brooks Potteiger under Doug Wilson – prayed for James Talarico’s death during a podcast. He said, ”…public enemies. These are the orcs at the gate. You’re not called to love the barbarian horde that is planning to break into your city and – you know – pillage, plunder, rape, and mutilate you and your people. You don’t love that horde. That is your enemy! And you pray! This is where you have imprecatory Psalms. This is where you pray strongly. The Psalmnist [not a word] is not shy. God, destroy them! Make them as dung on the ground…I pray that God kills him. Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ. That’s the first thing…”
The interviewer interjected, ”We want him crucified…with Christ..”
Potteiger continued, ”That’s exactly right!”
The interviewer, ”I want him to be I think Saul of Tarsus, Talarico of Tarsus. That’s what I want. Who would say I was holding the garments while they stoned Steven, and now I’m the – yeah – that’s, that’s what we want”.
Potteiger continued, ”…Yes. We want death and new life, right? Um, and if it would not be within God’s will to do so, stop him by any means necessary, oh God.”
The question is, was this interpretation of scripture, or was it intentional? What was also noted by some listeners (not verified): At the beginning of the podcast, the host said, “The man of Washington” and Brooks replied, “Not yet – soon”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJvb1g0BGb8&list=WL&index=2
https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1rwg6ya/joshua_haymes_brooks_potteiger_pete_hegseths/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2LhGaW2C44&list=WL&index=4
2026-03-25 James Talarico responded to pastor Brooks Potteiger’s death wish. On March 25th Talarico wrote, “Jesus loves. Christian Nationalism kills. You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you. I love you more than you could ever hate me”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/james-talarico-pete-hegseth-pastor
https://www.ms.now/opinion/james-talarico-texas-senate-death-wish-potteiger-haymes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMHQ_gtdEIk&list=WL&index=12&t=224s
https://x.com/jamestalarico/status/2036647988182036730?s=20
2026-03-26 Hegseth gave a sermon at the Pentagon about God’s involvement in battle, praying for eternal damnation and overwhelming violence in the name of God and claiming the United States as righteous in this war in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsqVj3G0cmA&list=WL&index=11&t=215s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NrJU2aqGvQ