Surge in U.S. Political Violence Signals Dark Shift \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ A Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were killed, another attacked, adding to a disturbing rise in U.S. political violence. This surge includes embassy staff killings, synagogue massacres, and attacks tied to conspiracy theories. Experts warn extremist rhetoric and weakened enforcement have emboldened violent actors across ideologies.
Quick Looks
- Minnesota lawmakers and spouses targeted in home shootings.
- Multiple violent acts in recent months: embassy killings, firebombings, political assassinations.
- Massacres driven by conspiracy-fueled hatred against minorities.
- ADL: right-wing extremists behind all 61 political murders (2022–2024).
- Experts link rise to deference of extremist threats post-Trump.
Deep Look
The assassination of one Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband—and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife—marks the most recent episode in a disturbing wave of political violence gripping the United States. These home-based attacks echo an alarming pattern that has unfolded over the past two months alone, including the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.; firebomb attacks at a Colorado pro-Israel march; and the bombing of Pennsylvania’s governor’s residence during a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside.
Beyond these, violence has struck at the heart of national politics. In late 2024, a health care executive was gunned down in New York City. President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt during his campaign in a Pennsylvania small town. In 2022, a conspiracy-influenced attacker severely beat Nancy Pelosi’s husband. And in 2017, a liberal gunman targeted GOP members during a practice for the annual congressional softball game.
Georgetown political scientist Matt Dallek observed that America is in “an especially scary time” where traditional norms and rhetoric that once suppressed violence have eroded, leading people to pick up on dangerous cultural signals.
Political motivation has also fueled large-scale massacres. Perpetrators of the 2018 synagogue killings in Pittsburgh, the 2019 El Paso Walmart massacre, and the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting all invoked the conspiracy that Jews are scheming to replace white Americans. This rhetoric, often tied to anti-immigrant fervor on the right, has become alarmingly mainstream.
A study by the Anti-Defamation League reveals that all 61 political murders from 2022 to 2024 were committed by right-wing extremists. The first violent exception in 2025 came on New Year’s Day when a Texas man, flying an ISIS flag, drove into a crowd in New Orleans, killing 14 people .
“If feels more random, chaotic, and more frequent,” notes terrorism expert Jacob Ware of the Council on Foreign Relations, emphasizing that violent acts are emerging from multiple ideologies, not confined to one fringe group .
Political violence isn’t new in America: from Lincoln’s assassination to lynchings, the targeting of Black activists, and the 1954 congressional shooting by Puerto Rican nationalists. Yet scholars warn the current cycle of violence rivals the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s—marked by the killings of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
Ware highlights that this recent surge correlates with the Trump administration’s actions—shuttering units dedicated to white supremacist threats and diverting federal law enforcement toward immigration enforcement—raising questions about its counterterrorism effectiveness .
In his first term, Trump also controversially pardoned participants in the January 6 Capitol attack, sending a powerful message: supporters may use violence without punishment, argues Dallek.
Not all attackers fit neat ideological boxes. Last month’s Palm Springs bomb plot targeted a fertility clinic and featured “nihilistic ideations” disconnected from conventional politics, the FBI reported .
In many cases, the motive of violence is obscured until after the fact—fueling a toxic cycle where partisans attempt to assign blame. In the Minnesota case, the alleged shooter, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, reportedly held a hit list targeting Democratic officials, abortion clinics, and protesters. Right-wing figures nevertheless insisted he must lean liberal, suggesting a broader CAPTAIN undefined pattern . One notable voice: Elon Musk posted on X that “The far left is murderously violent.”
Acts like these recall the fallout from the Pelosi attack, where right-wing commentators advanced false theories to misattribute motive—despite police confirming the assailant’s pro-Trump conspiracy leanings.
Former House Speaker Pelosi responded on X, warning that reactions to violence can “normalize” it. Trump, who initially mocked the Pelosis in 2022, now condemned the Minnesota killings as “horrific violence.” Yet his history of derisive rhetoric and calls for violent responses against protesters—like pledging to “HIT” disobedient crowds in Los Angeles amid immigration enforcement—suggests a significant contribution of his words to the country’s violent climate .
Experts, including Dallek, see Trump as “both a victim and an accelerant” of extremist violence, arguing that violent rhetoric has become mainstream and extremism is now driving political discussions.
Surge in U.S. Surge in U.S. Surge in U.S.
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