https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politic...g-dark-history
In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, Trump and other conservatives blamed the left for political violence.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said in a video message.
“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
“The Left is the party of murder,” tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said on X.
But recent political violence has affected both Democrats and Republicans.
In addition to Kirk’s assassination and the attempts on Trump’s life, Republicans were targeted in a mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice in 2017. Democrats were targeted in the 2011 shooting of then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz.; a 2022 attack on the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; and the attacks on Hortman and Shapiro in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, respectively.
And on Jan. 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol was stormed by Trump supporters who falsely claimed Democrats had stolen the 2020 election. When Trump won back the White House four years later, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of everyone who had been charged in the attack.
In 2023, Reuters identified about 200 more instances of political violence since Jan. 6, 2021.
There’s a ripple effect. As political violence rises, Kleinfeld said, it will affect everyone, regardless of political party.
“The more people justify violence from their side of the aisle, the more unhinged, aggressive people will commit violence from that side,” Kleinfeld said. “And the more that will justify the other side in doing the same.”
Be aware that this entire thread is just an example of the kind of rhetoric (ie lies) that fuels the violence against the American people.
Saying one side is more violent than the other is just not true.