Political Violence in America

A gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump last Saturday. Regardless of the shooter’s motive, I will state unequivocally that this act of political violence is unacceptable. There are few things on which most Americans agree; zero tolerance for this heinous act should be on that list. While I am resolute in viewing the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life as an abject moral failure, I am equally resolute in repudiating his abhorrent political rhetoric, which may (or may not) have contributed to the incident. Trump’s history of astoundingly irresponsible and violent utterings — including while he was president — has contributed to an American culture that increasingly valorizes disrespect and normalizes misanthropy. Donald Trump has explicitly called for violence to be perpetrated against his political opponents. For example, he suggested that a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, should be executed for speaking with a Chinese counterpart after President Biden won the 2020 election. Trump even mocked former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband after he was brutally attacked at home. Not satisfied with thuggishness, Trump has also repeatedly embraced authoritarianism, telling Sean Hannity last December that, if elected, he would be a dictator “on day one.”...