Victor Davis Hanson Slams Left’s ‘Sickness’ for Normalizing Violence in Wake of Attempt on Trump’s Life

World-renowned military historian and professor Dr. Victor Davis Hanson is calling out the “sickness” on the Left as he lambasts leftist rhetoric for normalizing violence against former President Donald Trump in the wake of Saturday’s thwarted assassination attempt.

In a viral commentary posted to X Sunday, titled “Assassination Porn and the Sickness on the Left,” Dr. Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, argues that threats to Trump’s life are a consequence of years of incendiary rhetoric from leftist celebrities and public figures.

Assassination Porn and the Sickness on the Left

If we were leftists and we were to use leftist tropes to editorialize the recent attempt on Trump’s life, then we would frame the assassination attempt in the following way:

We have witnessed for years blatant exceptions to the…

— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) July 14, 2024

According to Hanson, the Left “constantly makes Trump an exception” to the practice against normalizing the “imagined killing” of presidents or presidential candidates “and thus lower[ing] the bar of violence.”

He cited numerous instances where leftist figures publicly fantasized about violence against Trump, including actor Robert De Niro’s wish to slug him, comedian Kathy Griffin and shock rocker Marilyn Manson’s decapitation imagery, and rapper Snoop Dogg’s depiction of shooting him. 

Biden told donors on a private call this afternoon:

“It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 8, 2024

Pointing to Biden’s reported call to “put Trump in a bullseye” last week, he noted that the 81-year-old Democrat president fortunately refrained from his past aggressive remarks about physical confrontations with Trump:

 At least, Biden did not go back to the full Biden beat-up porn of the past (e.g., “If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him”/ “The press always asks me, ‘Don’t I wish I were debating him?’ No, I wish we were in high school – I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”)

Hanson went on to question the logic behind the Biden administration’s decisions regarding Secret Service protection, particularly the refusal to grant protection to third-party candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. 

“Given the tragic history of the Kennedys, why in the world did the Biden administration not insist that third-party candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. be accorded Secret Service protection?” he asked. “Because his candidacy was felt to be disadvantageous to Biden?”

Highlighting a proposal by Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson aimed at stripping Trump of Secret Service protection, Hanson argued the bill would have made Trump an easier target for potential assassins.

“Had Thompson’s bill passed, would that not have been confirmation for a potential shooter to feel his task was just made much easier?” he wrote.

He further criticized leftist media outlets like the New Republic, which recently depicted Trump as Hitler on its cover, suggesting such portrayals could incite “unhinged” or young individuals to commit acts of violence, believing they would be “applauded” for stopping a mass murderer and dictator.

We chose the cover image, based on a well-known 1932 Hitler campaign poster, for a precise reason: that anyone transported back to 1932 Germany could very, very easily have explained away Herr Hitler’s excesses and been persuaded that his critics were going overboard. After all,… pic.twitter.com/x79Rkh86O1

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) July 7, 2024

Hanson also addressed the “surreal” lack of adequate Secret Service measures during the attempt on Trump’s life, describing the failure to post agents on surrounding buildings as a grave oversight, while calling for immediate repercussions for those responsible for security decisions.

“Whoever made the decisions concerning the proper secret service security details for presidential events should be immediately fired,” he concluded.

Hanson has long insisted that the election of a tough conservative president later this year is all but ensured thanks to “useful Western idiots” supporting the Palestinian cause, who he argues have alienated many Americans.

The matter comes as after former President Trump was injured and rushed off stage by the U.S. Secret Service in Butler, Pennsylvania, after shots were fired at him on Saturday evening.

It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. pic.twitter.com/U3uzJMOSxs

— Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) July 13, 2024

The attempt on the former president’s life has sparked widespread condemnation, with calls for increased security measures for public figures and a reevaluation of radical political rhetoric.