Special to WorldTribune.com
Liberal terrorism is on the march.
James T. Hodgkinson, the rabid progressive who deliberately gunned down congressional Republicans at a baseball practice in Virginia, is a product of anti-Trump leftist hatred. Just like Islam, liberalism has a radical strain that embraces violence and terror. And just like moderate Muslims refuse to denounce Jihadism, many Democrats are unwilling to speak out against militant leftism.
Hodgkinson was in many ways a typical liberal Democrat. His hero was Bernie Sanders. He was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He engaged in class warfare, excoriating the wealthy and the so-called “one percent.” He regularly read The New York Times and watched Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
And he dreamed of murdering Republicans.
In fact, as Sen. Rand Paul admitted, had there not been Capitol Hill police officers on the scene to protect House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Hodgkinson would have succeeded in causing a massacre. Members of Congress only had bats to defend themselves from Hodgkinson’s high-powered rifle. It would have been like shooting fish in a barrel. Many Republicans — including Scalise — would be dead.
The shooting rampage is a direct consequence of Trump Derangement Syndrome. On social media, Hodgkinson claimed that Trump is a “traitor,” a “threat” to “democracy” and he must be “destroyed.” Those were the motives for his attack: If he couldn’t kill the president, Republicans were the next best thing.
These themes are exactly what the liberal media, Hollywood and Democrats have been pushing for months.
The phony liberal narrative is that Trump is a crypto-fascist and agent of Russia bent on erecting an authoritarian, white supremacist regime.
In other words, the Left has created a climate of hatred and manic hysteria against the president, accusing him of treason on a daily basis. It was inevitable that some lunatic liberal would listen to them and pick up a gun. Words have meanings.
Moreover, liberals have repeatedly called for violence against Trump. Have we forgotten?
- During the women’s march in Washington, Madonna said she dreams of “blowing up the White House.”
- Comedian Kathy Griffin posed in a picture holding a fake decapitated head of the president soaked in blood.
- A Julius Caesar play in Central Park, New York depicts Trump being assassinated by minorities and women. Liberal audiences love it, giving the play standing ovations.
The Left did everything but pull the trigger themselves.
But liberals’ obsession with violence is nothing new. Since the 1960s, radical leftists have engaged in terrorism.
- John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, an avowed communist.
- The Weather Underground, the Black Panthers and anti-war militants—all participated in attacks on government buildings and police officers. Their goal: to overthrow our capitalist system and constitutional republic. Not much has changed.
- Black Lives Matter openly calls for the murder of whites and cops in the name of socialist revolution. They have sparked riots in numerous cities from Ferguson to Baltimore.
- The Occupy movement believes in destroying private property and forcibly confiscating the wealth of the rich.
- And the alt-left, in alliance with anarchists such as Antifa, has assaulted numerous conservatives on college campuses. Trump supporters have been beaten unconscious. Campus buildings set on fire. Businesses and ATM machines looted.
What’s more, Democrats have refused to condemn the rise in liberal violence. There is a simple reason: They secretly support it. Enraged by Trump’s victory and fearing Obama’s achievements will be rolled back, the Left believes the ends justify the means. Having lost at the ballot box, liberals will not allow Republicans to stand in the way of their utopian socialist project.
Ultimately, militant Islam and radical liberalism are two sides of the same coin — they share numerous similarities: both are cults that rationalize violence to achieve their goals; both despise Christianity, seeking to purge it from the public square; both are ferocious enemies of Israel; both are rabidly anti-American and want to overthrow the Constitution; both view the West as inherently racist, oppressive and imperialist; both are globalists, except one calls for an Islamic caliphate and the other strives for one-world government; and both champion statism at the expense of economic liberty and individual freedom.
It’s no wonder the radical Left and Islamists have formed an unholy alliance.
Liberals, however, are making a pact with the Devil. There can be no peace with the Islamists — the Jihadists will come for the America-hating leftists as well. Until then, conservatives face a war on two fronts. Unless Democrats and the media are shamed for their virulent, reckless rhetoric, there will be more left-wing terrorism.
Since Trump’s election, the Left has called for blood to be spilled. They have gotten what they wanted.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at WorldTribune.com and the host of “The Kuhner Report” weekdays 12-3 pm EST on WRKO AM-680 in Boston.
Terrorism, 2017: The unholy alliance between the radical Left and militant Islam added by World Tribune on
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