When in 2017, James Hodgkinson walked onto a baseball field in Alexandria, Va., and opened fire, with the intention of massacring Republican leadership, few outlets even mentioned that he was a big fan of socialist Bernie Sanders, a man who tells minions that the nation is on the precipice of fascism. No one in the media blamed Sanders for the actions of a madman. The standards of culpability for political violence differ from situation to situation.
When cosplay Nazis rioted in Charlottesville, Va., every Republican was asked to take ownership of a movement that had nothing to do with their beliefs. When leftist unrest across the nation causes billions in damage and destroys thousands of lives, one could barely get anyone in the media to admit it was even happening. When a goofy
(largely FBI-hatched) kidnapping plot on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was stopped, it was a major story, framed as a microcosm of MAGA terrorism. Today there is a slew of attacks on pro-life centers across the country, and it barely gets any notice.
And normally I wouldn’t blame Democrats for the actions of extremists, either. The problem is that not only does the left continues to push the boundaries with Schumer-like threats, but they are engaged in the relentless, daily smearing of their political opponents as seditious, vote-stealing, child-murdering, fascists, and insurgents. If this were true, violence would be justified. But it’s a sinister lie.
Moreover, though most people abhor violence, there is a concerted effort to intimidate justices. When Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki if activists posting maps to homes and doxxing Supreme Court justices was the “kind of thing this president wants?” she responded: “Look, 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.” Kavanaugh’s would-be murderer told the FBI he got the idea to kill the Supreme Court justice after finding his address posted on the internet.
And let’s not forget that the White House encouraged people to go to the justices’ homes to protest. This is an attack not only on the separation of powers but also on basic norms of civility. The same people who are clamoring to limit free expression, can’t even ask their people to observe basic decency. Biden, not long ago, argued that harassing Kyrsten Sinema in the bathroom to pressure her to support Build Back Better was “part of the process.” The people who promised to bring back norms are engaged in abnormal behavior.
As of this writing, House Democrats have still refused to vote for the Supreme Court Police Parity Act, passed a month ago by the Senate, which would offer enhanced protection for all justices. It is not unreasonable to assume that those House Democrats want justices to feel intimidated. That was almost surely the goal behind the Dobbs leak and the reason Schumer stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened two justices by name. Unless grownups take over, things are going to get out of hand.
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