The fact that 18 million people think that force would be justified to restore Trump to the presidency is a bit scary, I admit.

The fact that nearly twice as many believe that force is justified in order to prevent his return to office is even more scary. That is 30 million people who, a bit more than a year out from an election that could have Trump reelected, inclined to take up arms in an insurrection.

The data comes from the widely respected Chicago Project on Security and Threats, which has been tracking political attitudes toward violence. One of the most striking things about the research is that all the MSM discussion about political violence is Right-wing threats, but vastly larger numbers of Left-wingers actually approve of using violence to achieve political ends.

30 million say “use of force” justified to prevent another Trump presidency, compared to 18 million who say same about restoring Trump presidency, per @ProfessorPape on @FaceTheNation. pic.twitter.com/KBHZO9cNsd

— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 (@BrentHBaker) August 13, 2023

As a practical matter, I think we are quite a ways out from either the Left or the Right taking up arms in order to get their way in politics. But it is striking to me that the MSM has been banging the drum about political violence from the Right when throughout modern American history almost all the political violence–particularly organized political violence–has been perpetrated by the Left.

There have been lone Right-wing terrorists, but violent groups like The Weather Underground, The Black Panthers, BLM, and Antifa have been a regular feature of American political life, and graduates from these groups have become prominent academics, politicians, and activists celebrated by the Left.

Barack Obama famously hung out with former terrorists such as Bill Ayers in Chicago, and Chesa Boudin took his parents’ revolutionary politics to San Francisco and brought chaos to the city. Charles Barron, a former Black Panther, became a prominent New York Assemblyman and is now a New York City Councilman, and very proud of driving whites out of his community.

“I have the distinct honor to be able to come before you and say… I actually lost White population in my community”

Thunderous applause from the crowd

What would happen if a white politician said this about blacks and the crowd applauded?

pic.twitter.com/U6CwvCHIUA

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 13, 2023

Maxine Waters famously called on people to make living in public impossible for Trump Administration figures, and Nancy Pelosi mused about the need for “uprisings” in America.

We have the myriad “fiery but mostly peaceful protests,” and a whole genre of MSM think pieces on why the obvious violent riots shouldn’t be described as such. The takeover of Seattle’s downtown was described as the “summer of love” by the mayor, although eventually the “protesters” were removed because of the constant violence at the core of the city.

What was striking to me, and what inspired so much backlash by the Establishment, about January 6th is how unusual any form of political violence is from the Right. Americans were shocked by the events not because political violence in America is shocking–we see it regularly from the Left, and every time a politically charged case in court happens the police prepare for yet more rioting.

It also wasn’t the occupation of the US Capitol that shocked me–how many state capitols have been occupied by Leftists for days not hours?

It is striking how sympathetic the coverage of Leftist political violence is. When the crowd outside the White House was dispersed with tear gas the media turned on Trump for walking to a church, as if the rioters, not the President, should be the ones allowed on the streets of our Capitol.

The shocking fact of January 6th was simply that Republicans don’t do that sort of thing. And, all things considered, I am glad we don’t. America is not made better, and the list of occasions when a country was made better by the exercise of political violence is very short indeed.

I do wish, though, that our elites were as horrified by Left-wing violence as the rare incidents of conservatives lashing out. Alas, they only oppose violence when it doesn’t suit them.

One of the most common symbols of the Left is the raised fist–and the meaning of the fist is exactly what you would expect. How many Che Guevara t-shirts have you seen? When was the last time you heard of a person getting in the face of a student wearing a shirt emblazoned with the face of a genuine mass murderer, and when was the last time you heard of a person wearing a Trump hat getting harassed?

Unfortunately, given what the near future looks like in American politics it is hard to see what breaks the cycle of anger. A Trump vs. Biden campaign is unlikely to be one that heals the nation.

I am not sure what would.