Violence from all sides of the political spectrum
Trump told reporters on Sunday, "When you look at the problems, the problem is on the left. It's not on the right." Vice President JD Vance was guest-hosting Kirk's podcast on Monday, and he echoed that sentiment when he said, "There are crazies on our side of the aisle.
The crazy lunatics that are having violent relationships, it is a statistical fact that most of those nuts are far-left Democrats."
While investigations into the suspect, Tyler Robinson, have suggested motivations that tie him to the left, the full facts are not known. What is known is that Trump and his associates were emphasizing those (albeit very limited) linkages while ignoring the other violent examples.
For example, Democrats have been the target of violent attacks, such as the shootings in Minnesota, the attack on Paul Pelosi, the January 6th riots, the overall January 6th events, and the tangential efforts to replace voting in various states.
In each case, they benefited in the minds of many Republicans from trying to shift blame to Trump's adversaries, even if it was not justified.
Moreover, when he was asked about the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (also three months ago) he provided little indication that he had any awareness of the violent event that had been committed against someone on the political left since Kirk was killed.
He first indicated that he was "not familiar" with it, and he justified it because he did not order flags to be lowered since Governor Tim Walz never asked. Even with the attempt on his life last year by Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was a registered Republican, Trump claimed the left was responsible, although he offered no evidence.
What this shows overall is that there is no singular source of political violence, despite Trump's framing. After Kirk's death, his video message once again pointed to the left without making any comment on right-wing extremist violence.
Trump's violent undertones and rhetoric
Trump and his allies also say that leftist messages, like those that compare Trump with fascism and Nazism, escalate these attacks. On Wednesday, Trump said, "This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it has to stop. Right now."
Alabama Senator Katie Britt agreed, saying the media's comparisons of Trump to Hitler played a role in sabotaging the public's safety.
Although Trump has long used his own brand of rhetoric. In 2017, at his rally, he called the U.S. Intelligence community "Nazi Germany." In May 2024, he said Democrats are running a "Gestapo administration." Over time, Trump has made repeated statements that trivialize or even incite violence.
He has said "Second Amendment people" can stop Hillary Clinton's judicial picks, has reposted a video declaring "The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat," and once praised Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte for beating up a reporter.
Trump also celebrated supporters who surrounded a Biden campaign bus, reposted a call for 80 million people to "physically fight" for him, and even said "we will see" when talking about violence from Liz Cheney in July 2021.
After the attack on Paul Pelosi, Trump ridiculed the incident. Trump Jr. even posted a meme of a hammer and underwear as a Halloween costume. He also pardoned many people involved in the January 6 violence, even beating the snot out of cops.
He's long had concerns over his own violent and harmful speech. When he was running for president in 2016, people like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley, and Rick Perry all made proclamations that he was close to calling for violence. When it came to January 6, seven Republican Senators voted against Trump and publicly rebuked him.
A dangerous divide
More recently, Trump distinguished not violence from peacefulness, but rather what he described as "evil" violence on the left, and right-wing violence that is "righteous." On Fox News Friday, he said that the radicals on the right just want to stop crime while the radicals on the left were "vicious" and "horrible."
Governor Cox cautioned against this line of reasoning, claiming that justifying violence on one side, while calling for violence on the other side, will only serve to further the divide. "That's the problem with political violence, it metastasizes," Cox said. "Because we can always point the finger at the other side, and at some point, we have to find an off-ramp or it's going to get much, much worse."
