The Trump rally shooting reveals a bipartisan consensus about what constitutes political violence — and who should wield it.
By Natasha Lennard, The Intercept
A bipartisan sampling of the world’s greatest perpetrators and enablers of political violence has rushed to condemn political violence following the shooting attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
Politicians swiftly coalesced around the language of “political violence,” rather than terrorism, to describe the assassination attempt, carried out by Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead at the Western Pennsylvania rally. Taken together, the outpourings of condemnations betray a clear agreement on what constitutes political violence, and in whose hands the monopoly on violence should remain.
“The idea that there’s political violence … in America like this, is just unheard of, it’s just not appropriate,” said President Joe Biden, the backer of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestine, with a death toll that researchers believe could reach 186,000 Palestinians. Biden’s narrower point was correct, though: Deadly attacks on the American ruling class are vanishingly rare these days. Political violence that is not “like this” — the political violence of organized abandonment, poverty, militarized borders, police brutality, incarceration, and deportation — is commonplace.
“Everybody must condemn it,” Biden said of the assassination attempt.
Recent Posts
The GOP’s New Civil War Against America Isn’t With Bullets — It’s With Ballots
Take Action Now Why 51 Texas lawmakers fled the State to stop a power grab, and what it means for us all…By Thom Hartmann, The Hartmann Report The…
As Americans Ration Care, Health Insurers Rake In Record $71.3 Billion In Profits
Take Action Now Despite rising out-of-pocket costs and millions losing coverage, U.S. health insurance giants posted record profits in 2024 while…
We’re Making Musk The World’s First Trillionaire With Public Money And Public Assets
Take Action Now We gave him our dollars, our knowledge, our launchpads, our tech. While people ration insulin, he’s on track to be the first…
Gazing On Gaza: The Gordian Knot Of Israel And The Middle East
Take Action Now Today, in 2025, Gaza has become the world’s living proof that there are horrors for which words like “tragedy” or “crisis” are…