The Hypocrisy Must Stop

Let's start with the obvious: there was an assassination attempt against the former President, Mr. Trump. It should never have happened. Violence is not the answer.

That statement has been shared, in various ways, across the political spectrum. The only exception to this rule I have personally seen are people who believe it was staged, or people who will probably be getting a visit from the Secret Service in the coming days. From current President Biden to AOC to Mike Jones, every political figure that I have come across has condemned this.

Before I get to the meat of this article, I want to point out something to any would-be copycats who may come across this: This does not help the left. Put aside the moral aspect, all this did was rev people up and it possibly gave Mr. Trump a sympathy boost. If the assassin had succeeded, a more competent Republican would have taken his place and President Biden, who is already struggling, would have handily lost.

Now to the real point of this. As I said above, virtually everyone has condemned this. The politicians have wished Mr. Trump a speedy recovery. Calls for unity and peace have been extended.

This was a registered Republican, whose former classmates have stated had conservative viewpoints. Democrats had nothing to do with this, yet Republicans are blaming them - simply because Democrats call Mr. Trump out on his rhetoric and actions. They say that the "rhetoric" - that Mr. Trump is a threat to democracy - caused this shooting.

But, wait. Mr. Trump regularly calls Democrats and President Biden in particular a fascist, communist, pedophile. He claims that President Biden and his administration are trying to kill him. In 2016, he hinted to his supporters that someone should utilize the Second Amendment against Hilary Clinton. When a MAGA convoy tried to run Biden campaign vehicles off the road in Texas in 2020, he cheered them on and called them patriots. That isn't inciting violence, but pointing out that Mr. Trump's words and actions are a threat to democracy are?

And it's not just against the President. Nancy Pelosi's husband was nearly killed by a Trump supporter who was after the Senator herself. Governor Gretchen Whitmer was almost kidnapped (and possibly almost murdered). A pizza shop and a few surrounding shops were falsely accused of being a pedophilia ring for the Democratic elite, with the "evidence" shown being nothing but paranoid fever dreams, which led to a man coming into the pizza shop with a gun, an arson attack, and death threats. This conspiracy theory persists to this day.

And, of course, who can forget January 6?

What do all those have in common? Trump incited them, directly or indirectly. Republicans, instead of condemning the violence, either cheered it, excused it, or claimed false flag. The same elected representatives who are blaming Democrats for a fellow registered Republican shooting their chosen candidate, had no problem when it was Republicans who were attacking Democrats.

This isn't limited to politicians either. Every day on social media, I see threats being made and slurs being hurled from right to left. And when the left gets fed up and fights back, pearls are clutched. Just today, I saw an exchange where a Republican (based on his profile) was harassing a queer woman, calling her slurs and saying absolutely awful things. Things I don't want to repeat for fear of this article being denied. When she finally had enough and told him off, calling him a few choice words in the process, he bemoaned about the intolerant left.

I don't want violence. I want everyone to be able to call anyone out when they're espousing incorrect information, lies, or flat-out dangerous rhetoric. I want conversations to be had without slurs being thrown around. Scratch that - this country needs to be able to have conversations. Unfortunately, while I hate to leave this article on a negative note...I just don't see this being fixed. Not this cycle at least.