Democrats – Dial Down Violence
On April 25, another attempt was made on President Trump‘s life. A leftist stormed the White House Correspondents’ dinner and shot a Secret Service agent. Most watched in shock. Oddly, some Democrats are silent, normalizing the idea that political violence, even attempted assassinations, are somehow to be expected. This must stop.
History teaches – from ancient Rome to the violent 1960s, when we lost a president, attorney general, and civil rights leader – that a society can lose its compass, permit passions to justify ignoring republican values. That is dangerous.
Studies, including a recent one by the Brennan Center, suggest we are crossing an invisible line. If we are, it is a failure of political leadership, abdication of responsibility by top leaders. In a republic, leaders must deter political violence.
When people feel uneasy, leaders must focus, guide, speak, and act to restore confidence. If political violence is, by contrast, seen as acceptable, leaders are failing. They are not modeling peaceable behavior, setting the right expectations.
Unfortunately, that is where we find ourselves. Statistically, numbers tell us what we know – after three assassination attempts, the death of Charlie Kirk, and countless other violent political episodes.
In late 2025, even before the latest attempt on President Trump, the Brennan Center reported: “Following a series of high-profile assassinations and attacks on politicians from both parties, the tides of violence are rising once again in the United States.”
Unchecked by those who should be speaking out, advanced by the misguided notion that political violence has some place in society – and pushed by extremist ideologies – the political violence surge is becoming a contagion, even locally.
Last year, “an alarming rate of state legislators reported an increase in frequency of violence…About 40 percent of state legislators reported an increase in frequency of abuse — which includes insults, harassment, threats, and physical attacks — and nearly a third reported an increase in seriousness of the abuse.”
“State legislators from both parties shared harrowing experiences of violence… In Congress, the U.S. Capitol Police investigated over 8,000 threats in 2023, a 50 percent increase compared with 2018 … 10 times higher than in 2016.”
As we watched another attempt on President Trump’s life averted – and having worked for three presidents and been in the Capitol the day two Capitol police officers were gunned down in 1998, it hits close to home – this has to be stopped.
For certain, our entire culture is in distress – much of it pushed from within by radicals, well-funded Marxists, and adversaries who wish us no good – but our leaders can affect this. To blunt this slide toward anarchy, they must.
Instead of constant hostility pushed at President Trump by reckless Progressives who call themselves Democrats – and demonization of those who support him – responsible Democrat leaders should be boldly condemning political violence.
Bluntly, from Washington DC to Maine, the decision of Progressive Democrats to remain silent in the face of this abject evil, to vote against resolutions commending Charlie Kirk, to encourage protests that call for violence, is a disgrace. These political misfits, however justified or non-complicit they feel, are part of the problem. Political leadership is about dialing down violence, not dialing it up.
