Hmmm disagree. If someone’s politics are violence, and they have a serious path to enacting them, it’s self defense. Self defense is generally acceptable.
I don’t want to politely walk into a concentration camp because a bunch of people in states I don’t even live in voted to exterminate the queers and their friends.
Also anyone who’s going to say “Gay marriage is violence against society” is an asshole and wrong. Anyone who says abortion is murder but isn’t doing jack fuck to help living humans is not worth listening to. Just to preempt the “well they think the same about you!” nonsense.
Here’s the thing: Trump’s politics do not stop with Trump. Killing him does not kill the fascistic movement he’s contributed greatly to, it has a life of it’s own, and even had he died today, whoever replaces him would still be peddling the same kinds of things, except they’d now have a martyr to rally Trump’s old fanbase around, one that, by virtue of being killed, many people are going to feel reluctant to criticize. As such, I feel that this attack, assuming it was politically motivated (and I figure the odds that someone shoots at Trump for reasons unrelated to his political agenda are quite slim, so it’s probably a safe assumption) was a mistake- I fear that it will have helped Trump’s agenda more than hurt it, and would have done so even if it was successful in killing him.
Now, Im not saying this to be one of those “violence is never the answer” types, I do recognize that there are situations where the only hope one has to survive an openly hostile political force is overwhelming violence; but it must be recognized that such an effort is extremely risky, it has significant drawbacks even if successful (such as setting a precedent legitimizing political violence, which anyone else may use, or causing collateral damage), and carries a significant risk that when the shooting stops, you’ll be on the losing end. As such, it really should be a last resort, and seeing as Trump isn’t even president yet, hasn’t even been voted in, and doesn’t yet have a legislature stacked up to ensure he can actually carry out his agenda, we’re not yet at the point where it is the only option left to stop him. Employing it now makes it more likely that we reach that point.
Trump is enough of a cult of personality that I think if he died (either through violence or natural causes), it would limit the effectiveness of the right wing. You are correct that it wouldn’t stop the problem. Project2025 wasn’t written by just him. There’s whole buildings full of assholes.
You may also be correct that this will motivate his fans, and that’s a net negative.
Also, I think the genie’s out of the bottle on political violence. There was already a coup attempt. If trump loses, I would be extremely surprised if there wasn’t violence. If he wins, people will suffer and die through policy. We’re not in a good spot.
Unfortunately, I cannot thanos snap away the far right.
Trump did kind of show Republicans that if you lean into your bullshit without flinching that no one will stop you. I think it’s hard to pull off for non-narcissists, though.
Remember “grab them by the pussy?” We all thought he was done after that, the media started circling for the inevitable play of contrition, which… never came. He just kept spouting bullshit, and it worked
That and voter suppression and probably foreign interference to destabilise the US
You’re not thinking evil and intelligent enough.
That cult propaganda is running full force. As a martyr Trump would shut the fuck up, making him much more useful, beginning with Republican reunification and spin at the convention next week.
Without offering any opinions, thanks for sharing your perspective.
Curious if you agree with / defend yesterday’s assassination attempt specifically?
If not, then ask the same about if it had been a successful assassination with no collateral damage? (e.g. no rally attendees hurt)
The primary problem with this attempt was Trump lived.
Republican policies are unacceptable. If someone rounded up all the republicans and shot them dead, I wouldn’t be terribly upset. They are bad people doing bad things of their own free will. We could do so much more about climate change, for example, if we weren’t being dragged down by conservatives.
I’d rather we have non violent paths forward, but I’ll take what I can get.
You’re probably the type of person who would end up being a shooter if this is your mentality.
This is political violence. Going around trying to assassinate people you don’t like is not self defense. Your presumption of violence is NOT a justification of using violence. Two wrongs don’t make a right, you’re still in the wrong. This mentality that violence is a just mean to achieve political goals is quite literally what terrorism is. This is the exact line of logic that Hamas used to justify the Oct 7th attack against civilians or what the Turks used to justify the Armenian genocide or what Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. You have to be some type of soulless ghoul to think this type of behavior is acceptable in a civil society. The majority of Americans already don’t support what Trump spews from liberals to independents to the apolitical to even some conservatives. If you criticize Trump and MAGA of being pro violence then you have to stick by your principles and be anti violence.
Bernie’s response is without a doubt the correct one. Not only is condemning the violence morally correct, but it shows that he stand by his principles and his condemnation helps remove fuel from the fire by not encouraging more violence. Bernie is right, be like Bernie.
Do people think that forcing children to give birth isn’t violence? That having the bank seize your house isn’t violence?
Imagine the privileged delusion that you’re above all that — that you’ve transcended the zombie horde of apocalyptic subhumanity clutching at your ankles, literally trying to rob your children, to poison them, to end all life on earth. The treacherous religious maniacs, the ignoramuses, the money-hungry, fashion-obsessed, sports-car-maniacal narcissists who would eat a puppy alive for a Rolex. That these orc-like creatures aren’t here to torment and torture and pillage.
But sure. Let’s not stoop to their level by struggling too much as they eat us alive.
Cool. Maybe we’ll end up being bunk mates in the concentration camp.
I don’t know what to tell you. Sometimes politics are violence.
Oh ffs, this is such a terminally online take. You’re not the equivalent of a Jew during the Holocaust nor is Trump Hitler and MAGA Nazis. Don’t get me wrong, Trump is vile person to his core. He has no redeemable qualities and his policies have done a lot of harm. His supporters are also brain dead morons who operate like a cult. I’m with you there, BUT despite that, we have to operate within the context of our reality.
The reality is that Trump and MAGA aren’t the equivalent of the Nazis, not everything you don’t like is Nazi equitable. This is the problem with modern discourse, our education system is rotten that people literally cannot comprehend history outside of WWII. History did not stop and end there, and the vast majority that happens in the world is not comparable to those specific time period. There are a lot of other wannabe dictators in history like Orban or Modi or Erdogan or Yeltsin or Haftar or whatever. Worst case scenario is that Trump does become a dictator, however, 99.99% of dictators of History aren’t like Hitler, he was uniquely evil.
With that being said, Trump isn’t a dictator now, and we have a very real chance of defeating him democratically. We have a very large and powerful coalition against him, we have all the dirt against him, we are using the national due process, and we are using legitimate means to achieve power in this country. All that political violence would do is give Trump and his supporters the rationale to justify that they are right, that Trump is a martyr, and that it is okay for them to use even more violence. We can’t stoop down to their level and become like them. We have to shut down that type of behavior, not normalize it.
Do you know why? It’s because we want to live in a civil society where peaceful democratic power transfers is the one and only legitimate means of gaining power. We can’t go on self righteous moral crusades where we use violence on people we don’t like to achieve political goals. Do you know why? Because that’s terrorism by definition, and to use something you’re familiar with, it’s what the Nazis did. Political violence is wrong on principle. It’s wrong when Trump and his cult do it, it’s wrong when we do it, it’s wrong when anybody does it.
So trump’s fanbase using violence is completely fine then? It isn’t a “presumption of violence.” Maybe you haven’t followed a single piece of history of the past 4 years.
Breaking into Nancy pelosi’s house in an assassination attempt, physically forcing raped girls and women to risk their lives to bear a rapists child, beating up and sometimes killing trans people for using the “wrong” bathroom, hosting and rallying known terrorist groups against their political opponents, kidnapping the governor of Michigan and DNC vice chair??
Storming the fucking capitol of the US with gallows set up trying to kill politicians and the vice president??? What world do you live in where the MAGA cult is not using political violence? Seriously? Which was one of 11 damn republican terror attacks THAT MONTH.. In what world is there a “presumption of violence” when the right wing organizations have literally layed out a public plan for installing a fascist dictatorship and said that there will be blood if the rest of the country doesn’t submit??
It’s wrong when they do it, it’s wrong we do it, it’s wrong when anybody does it. That’s because political violence is wrong on principle. I’m not exactly sure what you’re goal is here, do you think two wrong would make a right? Do you perhaps think an eye for an eye is a good concept to live by? Stop trying to justify violence as a legitimate means of achieving political goals, that’s literally terrorism.
I hope Trump dies from infection, sorry Bernie.
Sadly, I doubt it.
This is going to be the first chapter in a book about several assassination attempts during his reign of terror, at least if it turns out the way I expect it to.
They’re going to ramp security way up. I wouldn’t be surprised if the left finally gets their way with gun bans as a result of this. Right before a fascist takeover.
It could happen.
Historically in the US assassination attempts are pretty much the only thing that moves the needle on gun control.
I bet he will be boxed bulletproof glass, just like he was in his January 6th speech from here on out.
Trump is not going to put himself in a position to be shot again, so if someone wants to try another time, they have to be able to get within a few feet of him or risk the black market to acquire other means of trying to achieve their goal.
I think there’ll be other attempts, but I don’t see it happening. It’s a shame all that McDonald’s hasn’t worked to seal up his arteries.
I remember when a politician’s family was nearly killed and this happened.
I’ve never liked this saying.
I usually hear it as “if your friends […], would you do so too?” If my friends—who I feel are quite level-headed—were jumping off of a bridge, I think they would probably have a pretty good reason. Is there a bear charging us from behind and they’ve noticed but I haven’t? Is it because the bridge is short and they’re safely jumping into some water for fun? (I’ve done this before. If the conditions are right, it’s perfectly safe for those who can swim.)
Surround yourself with good, level-headed people. If your friends are arrogant/ignorant or not all that bright, you can’t assume they’re right to jump. If you’ve built up a sensible group of peers and they all are or are not doing something, you should at least consider why you are the outlier.
Then again, I just wanted to dispute this saying. I’m not saying I agree with OP here.
So you would jump off the bridge based on the fact that he jumped? I don’t believe you.
The point is to highlight that one of the two politicians being compared is an utterly despicable asshole.
My bad, I thought it was an attempt at justification instead of whataboutism.
Okay, what were the jokes.
I bet they were really funny if he just had to let them out then. Share with the class.
I am sure there were lot of funny jokes about the situation, I dont remember them off the top of my head. It is inherently very funny situation outside of the part where he got hit with a hammer.
Let’s not forget, trying to remove access to health care is an act of violence that will cause people to die. Restricting access to women’s health alth care is an act of violence that will cause people to die. Outlawing gender affirming care is an act of violence that will cause people to die. Appointing judges to support these policies - and those judges writing opinions enabling those policies as well as opinions restricting environmental regulations - are acts of violence that will cause people to die. Locking migrants in cages is an act of violence that leads to people dying. So why are those acts of violence acceptable but this one is not?
You might say that none of them are acceptable. But let me put it another way. Law enforcement shot and killed the perpetrator of this act of violence and we as a society deem it reasonable and justified. But why shouldn’t we do the same thing for this guy?
And the answer is: we should.
Liberals would rather literally die than admit they are complicit with fascism. As long as there’s some “other” being killed, they won’t give a shit. Whether it’s blacks, immigrants, minorities, LGBT.
They don’t give a shit about you as long as they get their daily Frappuccino.
I hope this is a wake up call for many.
Liberals would rather literally die than admit they are complicit with fascism. As long as there’s some “other” being killed, they won’t give a shit. Whether it’s blacks, immigrants, minorities, LGBT.
Okay bro you obviously live in a made up fantasy world.
Really wonder what Trump would’ve said if Bernie got shot. Probably offer a pardon to whoever was involved. Maybe even a Medal of Freedom.
Beside it not being the proper democratic way of deciding how to be governed, the problem with political violence is that it quickly spirals out of control and can burn everything to the ground.
I met a man in the jungle who was […] like a tangerine. […] Some people just want to watch the world burn
-Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth in the Dark Knight
