As Tolerance For Wokeness Dies, Leftists’ Lust For Violence Grows

It feels like an inflection point: The acquittal of Daniel Penny happened on the same day as the arrest of the accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Penny being found not guilty is a repudiation of the anarcho-tyranny the left has been imposing since the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020. Despite last-minute shenanigans from the prosecution, the jury understood that Penny’s restraint of a violent, threatening felon on the subway was justified. The verdict is an indication that people, even in liberal New York City, have had enough of rioting, defunding the police, and soft-on-crime prosecutors who let criminals walk while locking up those who dare to defend themselves and others.

But as the public sours on woke leftism in general, and its approach to crime and public safety in particular, committed leftists may respond by becoming more radical and violent. Just look at the left’s glee at the murder of Thompson.

Caveats apply, of course. The Penny acquittal was the right outcome, but the case should never have been brought. The process is still a punishment, and being found not guilty may not end all of Penny’s legal troubles. Likewise, the man arrested for the murder of Brian Thompson seems to have been, until recently, more of an ideological hodgepodge than a committed leftist — his radicalization seems to have been sudden. And so it is arguable that neither case is indicative of any larger shifts.

And yet.

The left really, really wanted to ruin Penny for protecting himself and his fellow subway riders. Politicians, led by “the squad,” weighed in to denounce Penny — even after he was found not guilty. 

And many on the left (along with a few on the right) were really, really happy to see a health insurance executive get murdered, or at least happy to spin excuses and justifications for the killing. Their adulation was anticipated by the accused, who according to an account of a police report, “likely views himself as a hero of sorts.” And those inclined to try to dismiss this as a one-off ought to consider how the left would react if the right responded with half of this glee to the shooting of an abortionist. 

Furthermore, this variety of left-wing violence has been rising for years. There were, of course, the BLM riots in the summer of 2020. Then we had the multitude of attacks on pregnancy resource centers and churches after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. And there is the vandalism, violence, and assorted other crimes committed by Hamas sympathizers on campus and off. 

Left-liberal officials, from the Biden administration down to petty campus administrators, have had a lackadaisical response to all of this. Perhaps that will change if they perceive that appearing soft on left-wing political violence will threaten their power in the same way that being soft on crime has. But it may be too late.

A substantial portion of the left has a taste for violence and is looking for excuses to indulge it. Thus, even if — perhaps especially if — wokeness continues to retreat, we may be in for an increase of political violence and terrorism from leftist cadres. There is, of course, no surety that wokeness has peaked; though it has taken losses lately, it is still deeply entrenched in many institutions. But if it keeps losing ground politically and in public opinion, we should not be surprised if the left’s true believers turn to violence against their perceived enemies.

There is precedent for this, as seen in the left-wing terrorism that began in earnest in the late ’60s and extended through the ’70s. Though often ignored today, the violence was widespread and prolonged, and it could easily reappear, especially if a rightward turn in the nation as a whole alienates leftist true believers.

The justifications for generalized left-wing violence are all in place, and their litany is familiar: Trump is a fascist, his followers are fascists, and America is irredeemably racist, sexist, settler-colonialist, etc. This endless chorus of condemnation is frequently unmitigated by any balance, prudence, or perspective, thereby creating a coherent, if fervid, case for terrorism. 

Running around the narrow track of their ideology and craving the catharsis they believe violence will bring, leftists may well embark upon campaigns of domestic terrorism against, well, anyone they feel like. The sort of revolutionary violence they long for is not known for being restrained or precise. And political violence tends to have unforeseen repercussions — those who start it are rarely those left ruling at the end.

Regardless of how it might play out, we should hope our nation is spared a spasm of domestic terrorism, but we should not be surprised if it comes. Americans in general want a return to law and order, but the left wants the blood of its enemies.

Nathanael Blake is a senior contributor to The Federalist and a fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.