Tipsheet

Stop the Gaslighting About America's Left-Wing Political Violence Problem

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  September 30, 2025 12:01 PM

No one is, or should be, arguing that political violence exclusively exists on the Left in this country.  That's not true.  What is true, however, is that leftist violence has spiked in recent years, with a number of horrific incidents occurring over the last several weeks.  I'm not someone who believes blaming political rhetoric for the violent acts of individuals, who are responsible for their decisions and actions.  I also think it's demagogic and unfair to smear an entire political party or movement over those decisions and actions.  That said, it's impossible to ignore how hateful demonization clearly played a role in the assassination of Charlie Kirk -- a murder victim whom the Left continues to smear and attack, even after his violent death at the hands of a leftist -- and the deadly anti-ICE attack last week.  When people are told, on repeat, that their opposition are authoritarian Hitler Nazis, some of them will act accordingly.  

Democratic Senator John Fetterman is concerned about his political coalition's words and actions, highlighting data showing soaring leftist violence.  We need to see more people on the left admitting the truth and doing something productive about it:


Indeed, although the "data" often cited by so-called progressives to 'both-sides' the current epidemic often simply excludes crimes related to the BLM riots, left-wing "autonomous zones" etc., which is how they produce garbage talking points about how the Right is supposedly more violent.  It seems as thought the very purpose of some of these studies is to manufacture a political talking point, rather than to accurately measure or reflect reality:

This is another illustration of the violence imbalance problem.  Right-wingers are often punished very harshly for their illegal conduct, and few celebrate their actions.  Left-wing violence is justified and celebrated disturbingly widely, and its perpetrators are often treated like folk heroes in some (alarmingly common) quarters.  Some are given tenure.  Others are applauded and beatified in death:


And here is this left-wing revolutionary and convicted cop killer being glamorized and eulogized by a major teachers' union:

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Relatedly, watch this leader of another major teachers' union spreading misinformation -- a specific piece of misinformation that is pervasive on the Left, to be exact:


The gaslighting is intense.  And it sometimes feels ubiquitous.  Here is another form of it, coming from a United States Senator (whose children allegedly drove one of their family employees to suicide with horrible harassment and abuse).  Mary Katharine Ham makes the obvious point that he hopes people will miss:


This is what he and other Oregon Democrats are pretending doesn't exist:


A few additional points: (1) The anti-ICE shooter reportedly obsessively searched for videos of Charlie Kirk's murder and used a left-wing app that tracks ICE movements.  This detail reminds me of the Family Research Council shooter planning his would-be massacre around a left-wing group's "hate map."  Democrats and the media ignore such things, even as they have falsely blamed right-wing politics for the Gabby Giffords and Melissa Hortman shootings.  The anti-ICE app being used by the anti-ICE shooter has barely registered on the Journo class' radar because it doesn't fit their preferred reality.  (2) This is a lefty organizer and Congressional candidate (her LinkedIn bio includes the phrases "love is love" and "peace is the goal."  Because of course it does:


(3) Do you remember the gigantic national news story about a 'noose' that turned out to be a garage pull at a NASCAR event?  In which the FBI got involved?  I sure do.  On that score, I'll leave you with this: