Democratic Politician Assassinated: Expect Much More of This Sh*t

Here we go again. America’s violence-prone far right just upped the ante, for the umpteenth time. A misogynistic ‘pro-life’ scumbag took it upon himself to ‘save America’ by assassinating a high-profile Democratic politician, Melissa Hortman, in Minnesota. Just before that, he shot up (9 times!) and almost assassinated a second Democratic representative.

Plus, he also killed the spouse of the murdered woman and shot the other victim’s wife (8 times!) as well. And why not? They’re just collateral damage.

What a great guy. What a ‘patriot.’

He had a long list of Democrats and ‘socialist’ politicians to kill — “more than 45” names in all.

America is now ‘united in outrage.’ Except… we aren’t, not really. The truth is, the U.S. has been moving rapidly toward intense, frequent political violence for over a decade, and we have done nothing to stop this insidious descent and devolution.

We repeat hypocritical BS such as “This isn’t who we are!” and “There’s no place for political violence in America.” Yet we consistently refuse to punish or even slow down those who instigate hate, misogyny, and racism — including most far-right media, many GOP politicians, and even our dictator-wannabe president.

We keep insisting, “We’re better than this.” But, are we? Some of us (a few) are truly “better than this,” but most of us just… aren’t. Nope — no way. Overall, we refuse to stand up for basic American values like liberty and justice for ALL. We keep refusing, over and over again, to redirect our society toward true equality and economic equity.

Sorry, but our condemnations of violence and loud protestations of innocence all ring hollow — because we have collectively set the U.S. up (and I mean this in both senses of the phrase) to be exactly this way. In general, we have slyly supported or incited racism and partisan violence, and increasingly give violent racists and haters plenty of leeway… while clamping down on legitimate protest, left-wing speech, and non-violent resistance.

What the hell have we become? Freedom has become tyranny, and our vaunted ‘American Dream’ has morphed into a dire dystopian nightmare.

Right-wing embrace of violence is rising — fast

This morning, I watched the Sunday morning news shows “This Week” and “Meet the Press.” I was curious about how they would cover this horrendous assassination.

I was heartened — at first — to hear the universal condemnation of this ‘lone wolf’ assassin and the growing tolerance for political violence. Bad, BAD stuff, everyone agreed. But it was even more striking — and maddening — to hear almost NO condemnation of the toxic partisan and right-wing media incitement that underlies our fast-growing violence epidemic.

Journalistic ‘both-sides-ism’ was on full display. Only one or two commentators had the guts to actually name the huge underlying issue — namely, the fact that the vast majority of political violence is committed by right-wing and far-right fanatics.

If we look at the actual statistics for political violence, the immense gulf between right- and left-wing violence jumps off the page. It’s not even close: about 9 in 10 incidents are committed by right-wing partisans or far-right ideologues. According to a Reuters article, “most of the deadly outbursts tracked by Reuters have come from the right….[and are] focused on stopping people or ending people’s lives.”

According to another article, “The Rise of Political Violence in the United States,” from the online Journal of Democracy:

“The media’s focus on groups such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Boogaloo Bois has obscured a deeper trend: the “ungrouping” of political violence as people self-radicalize via online engagement…. [I]deas that were once confined to fringe groups now appear in the mainstream media. White-supremacist ideas, militia fashion, and conspiracy theories spread via gaming websites, YouTube channels, and blogs, while a slippery language of memes, slang, and jokes blurs the line between posturing and provoking violence, normalizing radical ideologies and activities.

These shifts have created a new reality: millions of Americans willing to undertake, support, or excuse political violence…. Although incidents from the left are on the rise, political violence still comes overwhelmingly from the right, whether one looks at the Global Terrorism Database, FBI statistics, or other government or independent counts.”

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Our absurd ‘both-sides-ism’ is utter nonsense

What we’re seeing here is an accelerating societal disaster. In the name of ‘freedom’ and ‘free speech,’ we have enabled and supported a vast array of racists, haters, misogynists, Christian Nationalists, and other fascism-friendly underminers of democracy.

Our society has been way too tolerant of hateful, rage-inciting public speech. Meanwhile, we have enabled these same haters, racists, and misogynists to promote — and often help pass — legislation that heavily restricts free speech for Blacks, Hispanics, LGBTQ+ folks, liberal women, and Democrats in general. Any ‘woke’ ideas and policies need to be shut down or forbidden, fast.

Sorry, folks, but our oh-so-rational ‘both-sides-ism’ is utter BS. There is no ‘equal validity’ here. The ideals of the left generally support greater equality and social and economic equity — you know, the right’s much-hated ‘woke agenda’ supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) — while the now-dominant far right always promotes and insists on less equality, less diversity, and less interracial equity.

There’s no contest here — none at all. The right wing in America unquestionably incites more violence, both subtly and overtly. And this is not surprising if/when we ‘get’ that the right is fundamentally at odds with our stated American goals and values of ‘Liberty and justice for all.’

The far right in particular wants more rights and freedoms for White male hetero Christians, but insists on less freedom for everyone else, including the vast majority of Americans. They insist on their right to freely oppress all ‘lesser’ Americans.

The right wants to destroy liberal democracy — and happily uses threats and violence to do so

This last, highly un-American ‘ideal’ brings us to the crux of the matter. Since far-right oppressor types are a small sliver of the American populace, the only way they can dominate and rule is through mass intimidation and fear. They are not a majority, nor can they rule through valid democratic means like elections (though even in this arena, they’ve steadily gained ground, as evidenced by DJT’s re-election last fall).

What these folks want is long-term minority rule (by them), and the only way they can obtain and maintain it is through threats, intimidation, and overt violence. This is the real reason we are seeing such a vast increase in both talk of impending violence and overt acts of political violence.

Despite what GOP politicians say, they usually support odious far-right aims such as restricting minority voting, censoring ‘liberal’ viewpoints, stripping freedom and rights from LGBTQ+ folks, and curtailing access to abortions.

Even worse, the GOP simultaneously refuses to limit or condemn hateful, violence-inciting speech. And how can they, in reality, when our Republican president is our Hater-in-Chief and constantly eggs on and excuses the far right’s awful actions? The GOP pretends to condemn them, but in practice it subtly or overtly supports them — almost always.

People get ready, there’s a huge shit-storm coming

In summary: In today’s U.S., we have an unholy trinity of DJT, his enabling, boot-licking GOP, and right-wing media like Fox ‘News’ ruling our nation and calling the shots. And what they are calling for, both slyly and at times overtly, is the complete destruction of liberal democracy. The goal of MAGA and the far right is to ‘burn it all down’ and then remake America in their own (White Christian) image. And they are well on the way to achieving this goal.

As long as the far right remains in power and right-wing media dominate the airwaves and Internet, there is no hope whatever of turning our mounting spree of political violence around. If their hateful, intolerant minority rule is to spread and succeed, they need to create an atmosphere of intense fear, threats, and looming violence. And, as we’ve all seen, they are very good at it.

That’s exactly why I titled this essay “Democratic Politician Assassinated: Expect Much More of This Shit.” Ever-increasing political violence is an essential aspect of right-wing dominance, and they are certain to keep it growing and spreading — all the while pretending that they ‘hate’ and ‘condemn’ partisan violence. NO, they don’t — they welcome it, incite it, and use it to their full advantage.

Right-wing hate/violence is not an unfortunate ‘bug’ in our political system or the GOP. It is a built-in, much-loved, and stealthily supported feature. In truth, threats and violence are a mainstay of far-right politics.

That’s why I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more political violence in the months and years to come, primarily perpetrated by the far right against the left and minority groups.

End note: Here’s yet another example of grotesque, predictable far-right deception and manipulation. A mere two days after this assassination, murder, and several attempted murders, many right-wingers and MAGA types are falling all over themselves to deflect any blame or investigation.

They are insisting this murder spree was a leftist ‘false flag’ operation designed to turn Americans against conservatives and MAGA! What paranoid, unscrupulous manipulators! I suspected they would ‘go there’ and pull this noxious crap, and they’ve already fulfilled my worst expectations. See this CNN.com article.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.