Political violence in America, including assassination, is being applauded and embraced as virtuous activism by leftist Democrats, according to a recent academic study.

The study, entitled “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence,” was conducted jointly by Rutgers University and the Network Contagion Research Institute, a group that tracks digital threats.

“These attitudes are not fringe — they reflect an emergent assassination culture, grounded in far-left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized in digital discourse,” the report said.

Even after two assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 campaign and the ongoing violence directed at Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships and vehicles, leftists have ratcheted up the violent rhetoric.

It’s just another example of America’s continued slide toward banana republic status when it comes to politics.

“If you can’t beat them at the ballot box, then kill them on the streets” seems to be the mantra expressed by such ignorant political lowlifes as Jasmine Crockett and Maxine Waters, both unhinged Democrat Congresswomen.

Crockett, Waters, and a few other Democrats have repeatedly encouraged violence against President Trump and Elon Musk, who has led the effort by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to uncover fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government.

“What was formerly taboo culturally has become acceptable,” Joel Finkelstein, the founder of NCRI, said. “We are seeing a clear shift – glorification, increased attempts, and changing norms – all converging into what we define as ‘assassination culture.’

“Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, there is a growing probability of real-world escalation,” he said. “Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action.”

So far, not one Democrat in a leadership position has denounced the violence directed at Musk’s Tesla dealerships and owners. Nor have they asked that the leftist-dominated social media platform BlueSky rein in the violent rhetoric its users incessantly spew daily.

“BlueSky plays a significant and predictive role in amplifying radical ideation,” the report said. “BlueSky users are increasingly tying the ‘memification’ of Luigi Mangione with calls for political violence against Trump, Musk, and others, reflecting the growing cyber-social presence of assassination culture.”

Luigi Mangione is the 26-year-old man accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street in December. The left venerates Mangione and views him as a martyr in its war on private health insurance companies.

Nowhere is that notion more pronounced than in California, where a state ballot measure was recently proposed and morbidly named “the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act.”

Can you say banana republic?

The Rutgers/NCRI study surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 1,200 U.S. adults, weighted to reflect national census demographics. The findings were stark: Some 38% of respondents said it would be at least “somewhat justified” to murder Donald Trump, and 31% said the same about Elon Musk.

The study reported that political violence targeting Donald Trump and Elon Musk is becoming increasingly normalized. Following the July 13, 2024, attempted assassination of President Trump, tolerance – and even advocacy – for political violence appears to have surged, especially among politically left-leaning segments of the population.

NCRI empirically assessed this shift with original survey data and open source intelligence analysis to assess how normalized and justified violence against the administration has become in public discourse. The findings signal a threat to political stability and public safety.

Key data points in the report include:

• Murder Justification: 31% and 38% of respondents stated it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk and President Trump, respectively.

○            These effects were primarily driven by respondents who self-identified as left of center Democrats, with 48% and 55% at least somewhat justifying murder for Elon Musk and President Trump, respectively, indicating significantly higher justification for violence against these figures.

• Property Destruction: Nearly 40% of respondents (39.8%) stated it is at least somewhat acceptable (or more) to destroy a Tesla dealership in protest.
• Psychological/Ideological Correlations with Assassination Culture: These beliefs are highly correlated with one another, as well as with the justification of the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and hyper-partisan left-wing ideology.

○            This suggests that support for violence is part of a broader assassination culture, underpinned by psychological and ideological factors.

The threats are real:

• In February, law enforcement officials charged 28-year-old David Allen June Cherry of southern Indiana with felony intimidation after police say he posted online multiple violent threats against Elon Musk, including that Cherry would “gut” the head of DOGE.
• A Tennessee man reportedly upset with Trump and Musk was arrested on charges of assembling explosives to “burn down” Musk’s artificial intelligence data facility in Memphis. Ethan Paul Early, 25, told police that his friends talked him out of going through with the plan.
• On April 4, Jupiter, Florida, police arrested Glen DeCicco on charges of making written threats on his Facebook page to kill Trump. “The Jupiter Police Department worked in coordination with the United States Secret Service throughout the investigation,” the police said in a press release.
• Shawn Monper, a 32-year-old Butler, Pennsylvania resident, has been charged with making online threats to assault and murder Trump as well as other officials. Monper was taken into custody by the FBI, with the assistance of the Butler Township Police Department, and was detained. A hearing is set for April 14.

I always thought that Trump Derangement Syndrome was a fanciful way of saying “I don’t like Donald Trump.”

Instead, it appears to be a palpable mental affliction for Americans who perceive assassination as a legitimate recourse to losing an election.

During my career as a foreign correspondent, I covered several political assassinations in third-world countries. In those nations, elections were often rigged, and violence was often the result.

I smugly asserted to citizens of those countries that while democracy is never without hiccups, at least America is an example of a nation where democracy usually works without assassination and other forms of political violence.

I am not so sure about that anymore.

Once again, can you say banana republic?

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