Assassination Culture
Kerby Anderson
When I first heard about the survey, I doubted its credibility. That’s what most people might conclude when they hear that half of left-leaning Americans say that assassinating Donald Trump would be justified.
It turns out the survey was conducted by NCRI and Rutgers University Social Perception Lab. It had the chilling title “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence.” The data included in the report is based on responses collected from 1,264 U.S. adults.
The researchers concluded that, “A broader ‘assassination culture’ appears to be emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left.” They come to those conclusions based upon these survey results.
A majority (55.2%) of left-leaning respondents believed that murdering Trump was at least partially justified. A near majority (48.6%) believed murdering Elon Musk somewhat justified. And a majority (57.6%) thought destroying Tesla dealerships was at least partially acceptable.
Recently on my radio program, we talked about how Luigi Mangione has become a cult hero because he murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione has become an illustration of this assassination culture. One of my guests talked about how you can buy devotional candles bearing his image along with a coffee mug, a T-shirt, and a necklace.
On the first day of Passover, the Pennsylvania Governor and his family were put in danger when an arsonist set fire to the governor’s residence. Governor Shapiro forcefully spoke out against the violence. He lamented that it was becoming all too common in our society and had to stop. I agree and suggest he begins by talking to some of the left-leaning people in his own political party. 
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