1,499 words
The politics of personal destruction are now accompanied by outright assassinations and murder. Unfortunately, political violence is here to stay. The Left and other nefarious actors not only think they have the monopoly on violence but are confident that they control the media apparatus necessary to deflect from its aggression. It is important to hold the Left and its shadowy enablers —in all of their myriad guises— to account for their promotion and incitement of violence against their real and perceived enemies. The Left, especially the radical elements of it such as Antifa, saw Charlie Kirk as a hostile figure that embodied the national populist sentiment that opposed them. Because of his giant audience and effectiveness, Kirk was someone they felt needed to be eliminated.
In a volume of scholarly essays about political violence in Europe, the editors and authors decided upon a broad definition of political violence that effectively encapsulates conflict throughout the twentieth century. The concise form of their definition is “the term ‘political violence’ as used in this volume connotes all forms of violence enacted pursuant to aims of decisive socio-political control or change.”[1] I would argue that the radical Left and its allies are attempting to foment control and change through their repeated use of violence against their rivals in the here and now.
In a previous article entitled “Trump, Political Violence, & the Total State”, I quoted Dirk Schumann’s definition of political violence:
the exercise of physical coercion that essentially takes place collectively, can be aimed at both objects as well as individuals or groups, and whose actors, seek — by selecting a specific target — to simultaneously strike a blow against the political system as a whole or against a political concept regarded as hostile.[2]
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a writer for the Daily Signal, Tyler O’Neil, compiled a list of seven attacks on Conservatives since 2012. He included Floyd Lee Corkins II’s assault on the headquarters of the Family Research Council in Washington, DC in 2012. Corkins found the group on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) “hate map” and intended to kill or wound everyone in the building and then smear Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in their faces. At the time, the Left was critical of Chick-Fil-A for their support of conservative causes. Corkins was sentenced to 25 years in prison on several charges including terrorism. One security guard was shot during the altercation.
A Department of Justice (DOJ) press release issued on September 13, 2013, describes the struggle between Corkins and the security guard, Leonardo Johnson:
On the morning of Aug. 15, 2012, Corkins rode Metrorail from Virginia and into the District of Columbia, got off at the Gallery Place stop, and went to the Family Research Council. To gain access into the building, he falsely told the security guard, Mr. Johnson, that he was there for an interview as a prospective intern. Upon gaining entry, Corkins approached the receptionist desk, which Mr. Johnson was manning, intending to shoot and kill him. However, Mr. Johnson fought back and, as the two men scuffled, Corkins fired his gun three times, striking Mr. Johnson once in his left arm in the process. After Mr. Johnson subdued Corkins, Corkins stated, “It’s not about you,” but about the organization’s policies. He also was heard making remarks such as, “I don’t like these people, and I don’t like what they stand for.”
Tyler O’Neil’s article goes on to describe several other incidents. In anticipation of the annual Congressional Baseball Game, the Republican team held a practice in June 2017 that was attacked by one James T. Hodgkinson. The 66-year-old Hodgkinson shot four people including Steve Scalise who was House Majority Whip at the time, along with three others. Hodgkinson had volunteered for the Bernie Sanders campaign, “liked” the SPLC on social media, and had been influenced by the SPLC’s criticism of Scalise.
In 2017, Rene Boucher attacked Rand Paul while the Republican Senator was mowing his lawn. In 2018, Shane Mekeland, a Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives, was punched by an assailant named Richard Schmit. In the summer of 2022, Nicholas Roske attempted to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The summer of 2024 saw Thomas Matthew Crooks shoot Donald Trump in the ear at a campaign even in Butler, Pennsylvania; and in September 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after he attempted to assassinate Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Despite a recent push back from the Right, Left-wing violence continues. A crazed radical Leftist, upset by Jimmy Kimmel’s termination for his reprehensible comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder, opened fire at ABC studios in California. Revolver news reported that one Anibal Hernandez-Santana, 64, faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, negligent firearm discharge, and shooting into an occupied building. According to investigators, Hernandez-Santana, ex-legislative director for the California Federation of Teachers, posted inflammatory statements online as well.
The forgoing list of incidents was just a small sample and is by no means comprehensive. The problem of Antifa and Leftist political violence and related activities is far greater. Fortunately, a good first step for the Trump administration has already begun. The Trump government must follow through and dismantle Antifa and the constellation of Leftist networks to cut off their funding and recruitment sources. To that point, the Trump administration is preparing an executive order that will target political violence. The details have yet to be finalized as Trump was recently in the United Kingdom, but there will be an announcement in the coming days. According to Reuters, the Trump administration will target nonprofits, universities, and foundations.
On Truth Social, President Trump had this to say in his September 17, 2025, post:
I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Encouragingly, after Trump’s announcement, the Netherlands and Hungary, followed suit.
As I was preparing this article, The White House announced on September 22, 2025, that President Trump did indeed sign an executive order entitled “Designating Antifa As A Domestic Terrorist Organization”. It reads, in part, as follows:
Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law. It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals. This campaign involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists. Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members. Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech. This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.
This is excellent news as it lays the foundation for the Trump administration to effectively dismantle and destroy Antifa as a political violence organization. The order goes on to elaborate on that score:
Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.” All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations.
It will be a rude awakening, indeed, when the Trump administration ramps up the use of state power against Antifa, allied formations, and the Left more generally. Political violence will get worse going forward unless Trump decides to destroy the Left in the United States by dismantling its organizations, including the Democratic Party, cutting off its sources of funding, and punishing elected and non-elected enablers of the communist scourge. America is headed for an authoritarian future of the Left or Right whether we like it or not, and we must help to usher in a future that is in our interests. Designating Antifa as a terrorist organization is a significant step in the right direction.
Notes
[1] Donald Bloxham and Robert Gerwarth, “Introduction”, Political Violence in Twentieth Century Europe, Donald Bloxham and Robert Gerwarth, eds., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 2.
[2] Dirk Schumann, Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933: Fight for the Streets and Fear of Civil War, trans. Thomas Dunlap (New York: Berghahn Books, 2009), xvii.
11 comments
Leftist violence goes way back. President McKinley’s assassin was a devout left wing anarchist. He was radicalized by Emma Goldman. Goldman later defended his actions by saying he was fighting for liberty. Like all leftists their actions are for the greater good.
In the 1979 movie Manhattan, Woody Allen plays a neurotic character who talks about using violence against “Nazis.” My hunch is that in real life, there is much funding coming from such wealthy, high-strung powerful people who typically also tend to fund the Democrats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxkVhDYog8
That’s more than just a hunch. Woody seemed to play that same neurotic role in just about every one of his films. Annie Hall for one, but I got the impression that he was lampooning Jews in that film.
He doesn’t really have to do all that much method acting. All he has to do is be himself in front of a camera.
Ha! You’re a funny guy. True all he has to do is act naturally. He once said that he patterned his acting style from Bob Hope. I can kinda see that.
I read a Steve Sailer post about Allen long ago on Sailer’s iSteve blog where he talked about Allen being not neurotic in his own life, and being a successful athlete in some obscure sport, like maybe rowing or table tennis, I forgot. An athlete is an athlete, even if it’s not football or basketball. Allen is not a neurotic, he plays one on TV.
He’s so well-adapted, he married his wife’s adopted daughter.
It is important to hold the Left and its shadowy enablers —in all of their myriad guises— to account for their promotion and incitement of violence against their real and perceived enemies.
Great article, you even remembered to tie in the jews. 🙃
America is headed for an authoritarian future of the Left or Right whether we like it or not…
This is true, but it should be understood that the Left drew first blood. The populist Right is mostly composed of normal people who can’t stand the belligerent freak show that wants to get in their faces and brainwash their children in the educational system. The Right would have to be authoritarian in the same way that one would have to defend oneself from an attacker by returning the aggression back on the attacker. The attacker has made it impossible for the attacked to respond in any other way. The people using violence have given peaceful people no other choice. We have a sacred right to defend ourselves and our families, and that extends to defending race, culture, and way of life. The Left are the ones who are forcing us toward an authoritarian response to stop their own communist authoritarian society they want to foist upon us.
Greg has written articles saying that cuckservayids are beautiful losers who care more about not being inconvenienced on the golf course and conserve nothing. The anti-Whites arrogantly parade the offense down the field without any defensive measures taken by the fweedom and liberty black rifle coffee types. Such weak old fartism must be put out to pasture permanently, exit stage left, Whites immediately drop their conditioned racelessness, and start being ‘racist’ (raydar ON, for-us tribalism, no to outsiders, and Tetragrammacidally hostile to enemies). Fire fought with inferno while understanding that many of our own who refuse to get it will be abandoned on the Oregon trail.
How many non-Counter Currents-reading whites do you know among the population at large who are like this? As in 1984, the only hope lies with the “proles,” but, as in that same book, the proles are hopeless.
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