Victor Davis Hanson: Left-Wing Violence Chic

In Nashville, a transgender shooter murdered three adults and three nine-year-old children in a private Christian school. A manifesto was allegedly found to justify the mass killing. Law enforcement officials have not made the document public yet.

The moment the news was disclosed, the left-wing activist machine went into action, led by politicians, media personalities, and entertainers.

Three predictable themes emerged.

The first theme was initiated by President Joe Biden. He claimed that guns were the cause of the mass murder, not the free will of a psychopathic killer. It was hardly noticed that the shooter had purchased the firearms illegally by concealing her record of emotional disorders.

The second theme claimed that there would be no benefit in releasing the shooter’s manifesto. This deviation from the usual practice was due to the fear that the manifesto might damage the transgender cause.

The third topic argued, among other things, that such killings were regrettable but understandable in light of Christian, conservative America’s supposed intolerance of transgender people. In our sick society, the victims became the politically incorrect.

Did the shooter believe that violence for her “right” cause would be excused, explained by the tool used, and not blamed on her?

Simultaneously, a transgender activist engaged in a physical altercation with a sergeant-of-arms in the Texas Legislature. A trans advocacy group held the “Trans Day of Vengeance” protest in front of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., just days after the Nashville shooting, with the original name and date.

It was lately revealed that federal authorities did not take adequate action last year when pro-abortion protesters invaded the neighborhoods of conservative Supreme Court justices, screaming and interrupting them for their decisions. Attorney General Merrick Garland didn’t prosecute the lawbreakers or strengthen security.

Under this general chaos, a potential assassin of Justice Brett Kavanaugh turned up near his home but was persuaded by his sister to surrender. In March 2020, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., threatened two Supreme Court judges by name in front of an angry pro-abortion audience protesting outside the court doors:

“You won’t know what hit you if you go forth with these terrible decisions.” What did Schumer mean by “whirlwind,” “pay the price,” and “what hit you”?

Octogenarian actress Jane Fonda recently returned to controversy by bragging that women were not going to retreat on abortion rights. If their marches and protests were not enough, Fonda smirked, “Well, I’ve considered killing.”

Recently, Wayne State Professor Steven Shaviro posted a statement on campus free speech: “Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.” Shaviro was apparently referring to the mob that shouted down U.S. Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan at Stanford Law School, whom the campus Federalist Society had invited to speak.

In summer 2020, the vast majority of the Black Lives Matter and Antifa-led demonstrators who riot, burn, and loot more than 120 days, resulting in 1,500 police injuries and over 35 deaths, were not arrested or released.

For that matter, what do George Lopez, Johnny Depp, Kathy Griffin, Moby, Rosie O’Donnell, Snoop Dogg, Mickey Rourke, and Larry Wilmore have in common? At some point, they hinted at various ways of envisioning the violent death of former President Donald Trump.

What do Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Robert De Niro have in common? They all boasted about their desire to physically assault or beat up Trump.

The radical left believes that ideology justifies its political violence. For everyone else, the result is open seasons and the end of deterrence – hence, alarming days ahead.

Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness, a historian, and classicist at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and author of Basic Books’ “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.” You can reach him by email at [email protected].