Or the ‘lone wolf’ shooters who all happen to listen to the same podcasters, and hang out in the same online spaces and repeat the same dogma, and always seem to explicitly target their percieved enemies but are somehow written of as if they were just one time random acts of violence.
Not really, if you read the article it only defines political violence as violence that isn’t done by the state:
That figure underscores just how much the spate of attacks — from the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this year to the attempts on President Donald Trump’s life in 2024 — have rattled the nation.
In addition to Kirk’s killing and the attempts on Trump’s life, there was the gruesome attack targeting former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that left her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a fractured skull in 2022; the assassination plot against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that same year; the plan to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020; and the firebombing at Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence earlier this year.
In June, former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in their home by a man impersonating a police officer in an attack that Gov. Tim Walz (D) called “politically motivated.” The man accused of killing Hortman and her husband was indicted on federal murder charges. His case is still pending.
Etc etc.
Political violence has been with us long before politicians started getting shot, but political motivations didn’t count before because it was the government doing it.
There’s already political violence, it’s just that we don’t count political violence when it’s done by cops, national guard, or border enforcement.
Or the ‘lone wolf’ shooters who all happen to listen to the same podcasters, and hang out in the same online spaces and repeat the same dogma, and always seem to explicitly target their percieved enemies but are somehow written of as if they were just one time random acts of violence.
Hmm I wonder what group of ultranationalists we could compare that too…
That’s why the headline says “worse”.
Not really, if you read the article it only defines political violence as violence that isn’t done by the state:
Etc etc.
Political violence has been with us long before politicians started getting shot, but political motivations didn’t count before because it was the government doing it.