Political violence and in particular assassinations are earth-shattering events that leave us questioning everything. We like to think that we are above such things, that our level of societal sophistication makes them taboo. But the truth is that Western democracies suffer from this phenomenon far more than other nations. In a society where it’s permissible to say just about anything, the door is left open to the kind of incitement that leads to political violence.
When a sniper took a shot at Donald Trump during a presidential campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the immediate response of those in his circle was that the hostile rhetoric of his political opponents had brought about the near-assassination.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Trump’s senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita tweeted: “For years, and even today, leftist activists, (Democratic) donors and now even Joe Biden have made disgusting remarks and descriptions of shooting Donald Trump.”
He was referring to repeated suggestions that violence be used to stop Trump, and in particular a remark by President Joe Biden during...
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