The tragic, politically motivated assassinations and attempted assassinations in Minnesota over the weekend have horrified the nation and prompted bipartisan condemnation. In the aftermath, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was former Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, has spoken beautifully about the evils of political violence, but some serious soul-searching must follow if his words are to be anything more than empty rhetoric.
“This cannot be the norm,” Walz said. “It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences. Now’s the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country. And each and every one of us can do it. Talk to a neighbor rather than arguing. Debate an issue. Shake hands. Find common ground.”
Everything the governor said here is spot-on. But he needs to look in the mirror and reflect on his own rhetoric and, more importantly, a significant segment of his own party’s troubling embrace of political violence.
First, it’s a bit rich to hear calls for decency and civil discourse coming from the man whose whole campaign schtick was calling Republicans “weird” and who just weeks ago called on Democrats to be “meaner” and “bully the s***” out of President Donald Trump. His current call is still correct and commendable, but unless an apology for his recent hostile and uncivil rhetoric accompanies it, then it’s tainted by his hypocrisy and not worth all that much.
Yet the problem here goes much deeper than just one elected official’s hypocrisy.
Over the last several years, a significant portion of the Democratic base in this country has become openly supportive of political violence and even murdering those with whom they disagree. We saw this after the two failed assassination attempts against Trump when liberal influencers cried about the fact that the would-be assassins were unsuccessful.
We see it to this day, with viral video after viral video calling on someone to “just do it” and take out Trump. We see it in widespread violence against Tesla and politically motivated calls for violence against CEO Elon Musk. And it’s not just a few examples cherry-picked from TikTok.
Polling from the Network Contagion Institute and Rutgers University found that among self-identified left-of-center respondents, 55% thought that murdering Trump would be at least partially justified. A whopping 48% said the same about Musk. The researchers found that these attitudes are highly correlated with “hyperpartisan left-wing ideology” and also correlated strongly with political support for Luigi Mangione, who is being prosecuted for an alleged politically motivated murder of a healthcare CEO.
Mangione’s alleged actions are textbook terrorism, violence targeting civilians to perpetuate a political agenda. Yet they have received widespread support among liberal Americans and won him viral fandom and cult-like worship online. Polling found that 28% of self-identified liberals explicitly supported the killing, with countless more partially sympathizing with Mangione.
IN A HOUSE DIVIDED, THE LEFT LOSES ON PRINCIPLE
None of this is to say that all liberals or all Democrats support political violence. Nor is it to ignore that Trump disgracefully pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who violently assaulted law enforcement, that Trump often attacks opponents in deeply uncivil ways, how some Republicans laughed at the assault of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband, or any of the other examples that Democratic apologists will quickly invoke in a whataboutism defense of their own side. All of those things are horrible.
But they are logically and morally irrelevant to the question of whether the Democratic Party has a serious problem with rising, open bloodlust and support for political violence among its base. It clearly does. And Walz does not have the power to shape the Republican Party. Yet he and other Democratic leaders do have tremendous influence in left-of-center American politics, and if they actually mean the things they’re saying after the horrific killings in Minnesota, they must wield that influence to change their own side for the better.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.