Republicans and Violence, Again

After an attack on Representative Ilhan Omar yesterday evening, it has become apparent that mainstream Republicans are, at best, indifferent to political violence directed towards their political rivals and, at worst, actually supportive of it. This has been clear from the reactions of Republicans from cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump on down. While there have been a few Republican voices unequivocally condemning the assault, this has been very much a minority reaction among those on the right. This is not only true in yesterday's attack, but has been the case in regard to several recent acts of violence committed against Democrats. The same Republicans who practically made it a crime not to mourn the death of Charlie Kirk are now engaging in behavior that would have caused people to lose their jobs had the same behavior been directed at Kirk.

Back in September I wrote about how Republicans were fixated on acts of violence directed at Kirk and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service. However, at the same time, they were virtually ignoring similar or even worse violence directed at Democrats or targets perceived to be liberal. Probably the leading purveyor of the Republican-manufactured myth that the political left is more likely to engage in violence is Vice President and reply-guy JD Vance. Following Kirk's murder, the alleged perpetrator of which has not been shown to have strong liberal views, Vance claimed that "This is not a both-sides problem...One side has a much bigger and malignant problem, and that is the truth we must be told." It was only possible to hold such a view if attacks on the left were ignored.

In my September post, I provided three examples of recent violence committed by those on the right that was directed at the left. The most serious was the shooting death of Minnesota state House Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. The killer, 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, also shot and wounded state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Trump did not call Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz to offer condolences and did not order flags lowered to half-staff. Later, Trump and other Republicans would routinely leave this act of violence out when describing recent political violence. Similarly, when an anti-vaccine extremist opened fire on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus in Atlanta, Georgia, killing DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose in the process, Republicans almost acted as if the event didn't happen. Trump has never made a public statement about this act of violence, despite leading the government that employs those targeted. I also described how Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry, who shot and killed Garrett Foster during a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Perry had texted friends about his plans to murder a protester prior to the attack.

This pattern of Republicans not taking violence seriously if it is directed at those on the left has continued after two recent attacks on Democratic members of Congress. The first of these occurred on January 3 when Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost was assaulted while attending a reception at the Sundance Film Festival. According to Frost, a man who told him that Trump was going to deport Frost punched him in the face. 28-year-old Christian Young was arrested and charged with assault. This attack has mostly flown under the radar, receiving very little attention. Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, denounced the alleged attack, but otherwise I am not aware of condemnations from Republicans.

In last night's attack, Representative Omar was speaking at a town hall meeting in Minneapolis when a man approached the podium and used a syringe to spray her with an unknown liquid. Omar rushed towards the man before he was restrained by security and later arrested. Omar then continued with the town hall. The attacker, later identified as 55-year-old Anthony J. Kazmierczak, was said to have posted pro-Trump photos on Facebook. Omar has been a frequent target of racist and xenophobic remarks by Trump.

When Trump was asked about the assault, his response bore the class with which we have come to expect from him. He said that he doesn't think about her, an obvious lie given how frequently he speaks about her, including just shortly before the attack. Trump then went on to say that "I think she's a fraud...She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her." Representative Randy Fine, one of the most odious people on Capitol Hill and someone who has repeatedly made racist attacks on Omar, said "I blame Ilhan Omar for what happened." Senator Ron Johnson probably had the craziest reaction, which is ironic because he began his remarks by saying "Let's talk about how crazy this is" and then went on to invent a scenario in which an illegal immigrant had attacked a Republican member of Congress. Johnson claimed that the immigrant would be released from jail and ICE would be prevented from detaining him. It is not surprising that Johnson would rather mischaracterize the reaction to a situation that existed only in his mind rather than the reality of an attack by a Trump supporter on Omar, but Johnson should know that, in reality, Texas' Abbot pardoned an actual murderer. This is not to mention the number of violent offenders Trump pardoned on the first day of his second term. If Johnson is concerned about those who perpetrate political violence being released, he need only look at his own party.

To her credit, Representative Nancy Mace, who has previously referred to Omar as an "enemy of the state," issued a statement that was critical of the attack. In the past, Mace has also called Omar an ISIS supporter and suggested that Omar be given a one-way ticket to Somalia. While her condemnation is welcome, Mace should consider how her previous rhetoric might have contributed to such attacks.

But the biggest demonstration of the Republicans' support for violence against liberals is the deployment of ICE and Border Patrol to Minnesota. From the very beginning of Operation Metro Surge, it was evident that it had little to do with immigration or even fraud. Rather, the goal was to intimidate a city and state that had rejected Trump. ICE and BP repeatedly acted violently, well beyond anything that was reasonable. This was clear when Renee Good was murdered by an ICE agent. Even before the shooting, Good was aggressively approached while sitting in her car by two ICE officers, one of whom attempted to force open her car door. When a clearly startled Good attempted to leave the scene, she was shot three times. Republicans virtually unanimously approved of the shooting. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem called Good a "domestic terrorist." This sort of rhetoric continued until Trump learned that her parents were Trump supporters. That caused him to change his tone.

This pattern repeated itself when Alex Pretti was similarly murdered, this time by Border Patrol. The violence in that incident began with a BP agent violently pushing two women who were photographing him. Before Pretti was shot, he was violently thrown to the ground and beaten by one agent with a tear gas canister. Had Pretti not been shot, that in itself would have been an unreasonable use of force. After as many as 10 shots were fired at Pretti from close range, killing him, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and world-class hater Stephen Miller referred to him as an assassin, and Noem called him a terrorist. It was only when polls showed the public was repulsed by such characterizations that Trump began distancing himself from them.

I watched a video live stream of the area near where Pretti was killed in the hours after the shooting. Border Patrol established a police line down the street from the location. Demonstrators gathered but kept back at least 20 yards from the line. Nevertheless, BP officers fired tear gas, pepper pellets, and flash bangs at the demonstrators who were doing nothing but yelling, blowing whistles, and filming. This violent use of so-called "less lethals" was completely unnecessary and demonstrated the violent nature of this force that behaves more like an occupying army than a law enforcement service. When BP was able to detain people, the victims were thrown to the ground and often beaten by a mob of BP agents. These were out-of-control thugs. Yet, Republicans fully support such actions. Some have gone so far as to suggest that whistles are actually weapons and justify the use of force.

Charlie Kirk was turned into a saint who it was practically illegal to criticize. Indeed, hundreds lost jobs because they failed to provide the proper level of respect. Republicans created a myth that was widely accepted suggesting that the left was especially violent, despite statistics showing that far more violence emanates from the right. Part of the reason that Republicans partly succeeded with their myth is that they routinely ignore or downplay violence perpetrated by their side against the left. We have seen this Republican reaction to the violence in Minnesota and the recent assaults against Democratic members of Congress.