FLASH
Shkruar nga Jan-Werner Mueller
Both Republicans and Democrats have been victims of violent attacks this year, but the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has once again highlighted a fundamental asymmetry in contemporary American politics. Unlike Democrats and most Americans, many right-wing leaders view the violence of their supporters as legitimate...
The horrific murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has drawn reactions from statesmen on both sides of the political spectrum. But it has also demonstrated once again the fundamental asymmetry of contemporary American politics. Many prominent figures on the right, up to President Donald Trump, have called for nothing less than revenge against the “radical left,” all in the absence of information about the killer and his motive.
Trump has signaled for nearly a decade that political violence by his supporters is acceptable and even rewarded. Those he pardoned for their participation in the January 6, 2021, uprising at the Capitol included many convicted of violent crimes. But Trump and many of his supporters present such behavior not as violence but as legitimate, even patriotic, self-defense; much like other right-wing populists who portray themselves as perpetual victims.
There have been some deeply unpleasant posts about Kirk’s killing by people on the left on social media, gleefully pointing out that Kirk had claimed that gun deaths were an acceptable price to pay for the right to bear arms. But, by and large, liberal commentators have done their best not only to condemn the violence but also to recognize Kirk as a bona fide debater with a “taste for dissent.” On the right, by contrast, prominent voices have called for repression, citing the illegal practices of FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover as a model, if not an outright “war.”
Even more worrying is that Trump himself seems to be using this as a pretext to attack civil society organizations he doesn’t like. Members of his administration have already declared the Democratic Party itself a “domestic terrorist organization.” Given that Trump has shown absolutely no restraint in using the powers of the federal government against any individual or organization, the implicit threat of criminal prosecution of the opposition should set off alarm bells for every Democrat (not just Democrats).
Beyond abusing the law, Trump has consistently encouraged, or at least clearly tolerated, political violence: from imagining himself shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, to encouraging his supporters to rape people, to describing the violent racists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia, as “good people,” to his apparent willingness to see his first vice president, Mike Pence, lynched on January 6, 2021, so that he could remain in power.
Democracies like Brazil have been able to sanction a president who was prepared to stage a coup, as the trial and conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro shows. The US, by contrast, not only failed to demonstrate after January 6 that actions have consequences; it allowed Trump to return to power, which he has used to send the clearest possible message that those involved in pro-Trump violence can expect impunity. They can even be praised and honored with a military funeral. Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, has actually refused to place a plaque for the Capitol Police Defenders, as stipulated in a bipartisan bill.
While Trump’s first term was marked by overt displays of cruelty, his administration is now devoting significant resources to creating a cult of violence. The killing of 11 people at sea off the coast of Venezuela, without any apparent legal justification, is being gleefully shared on social media. The Department of Homeland Security regularly uses social media to celebrate the pain of families whose loved ones have been brutally taken. One post goes so far as to show masked ICE personnel wearing Nazi Wehrmacht helmets.
Of course, Trump has always enjoyed a spectacle and relied on props to convince people he was doing something important (remember the huge dossiers shown on TV to prove the existence of his nonexistent health care plan). Except now it is images of real suffering that are being used to please his supporters and prop up his increasingly unpopular presidency.
Some would argue that such displays of suffering are necessary deterrents. But we don't show prisoners being tortured because we believe it will reduce crime, although, come to think of it, Kirk once called for public executions, broadcast live on television and ideally "sponsored by Coca-Cola."
Trump can lift all restrictions on his followers; after all, he himself has felt completely unfettered in his second term, with no pretense of adhering to the rule of law, let alone the norms of how political opponents should be treated in a democracy. He probably believes his undemocratic behavior is justified because the other side supposedly used the Justice Department as a weapon to put him in prison; so it is only right that he seeks to punish them now on charges like “mortgage fraud.”
Once again, Trump is not the perpetrator, but the victim. And he has an entire grievance-industrial complex on his side. From Fox News to podcasts, his propagandists tell their audiences that they have a right to feel unhappy. Victimization can become an excuse for violence.
This does not mean that the United States is sliding toward civil war. Some seem eager to do so and may feel well prepared. But polls show that an overwhelming majority oppose political violence. And, as political scientist Brendan Nyhan has reminded us, support for such violence fell after the assassination attempt on Trump in July 2024.
While the hope arises eternally that Trump will become president and seek unity, there is every reason to believe that his behavior on the night of Kirk's murder will continue: polarization has always been his political business model.
Unfortunately, at a time when his administration is nurturing not so much a "taste for discord" as a taste for cruelty, some Americans may take his example. /Adapted from Project-syndicate/
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