DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY HOLE: Remembering James Hodgkinson.
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WHY ARE BERNIE BROS SO VIOLENT? Remembering James Hodgkinson.
As I noted earlier, James O’Keefe released a series of videos today that feature a Bernie Sanders campaign worker named Kyle Jurek. They are in the usual undercover format used by Project Veritas. Jurek says many shocking things. He promises that Milwaukee will “burn” if Sanders doesn’t get the Democratic nomination, and vows to attack police officers. He endorses the Soviet Gulag in particular, and Communist re-education camps in general. He talks about “revolution” and suggests that anyone who opposes the Bernie Sanders revolution will be shot. He comes out against free speech. Jurek advocates sentencing billionaires to hard labor “breaking rocks” and approves of Antifa. His language is vulgar and threats of violence are interspersed through his conversation.
Democrats are already in damage control mode on Twitter. You can see the Project Veritas videos as well as some of the Democrats’ responses on O’Keefe’s Twitter feed. Democrats describe Jurek as a volunteer, which he isn’t. He is a paid staffer in Iowa (or was until today). He was described as a “top-tier organizer” by Sanders’ senior campaign officials in Iowa, who have now closed down their social media accounts.
One Democrat on Twitter described Jurek as “a random, drunk, low-level organizer for Bernie.” That’s really the question: how typical of the Bernie movement is this thoroughly disgusting creature? O’Keefe says the Jurek videos are only the beginning, and he hints that there are more videos coming, featuring more Sanders employees and volunteers. We will see.
Meanwhile, there is one thing we can say for sure. To paraphrase John Lennon, Kyle Jurek may be a violent Communist dreamer, but he’s not the only one. James Hodgkinson, another Bernie Bro, has already done some of the worst things that Jurek threatens. The liberal press has tried to bury the fact that Hodgkinson, a Sanders volunteer and hard-core labor unionist, shot up a group of Republican Congressmen, and would have succeeded in murdering the House Majority Whip, but for the miracles of modern medicine. In that case, Sanders was quick to condemn political violence. If asked, I suppose he would distance himself from Jurek, too. But how many more are there where Hodgkinson and Jurek came from? How extreme is the Bernie Sanders movement, really?
Very extreme.
BUT OF COURSE: James Hodgkinson was a Democrat, but the media want ‘both sides’ to claim him.
When a Republican does it, the Republican is to blame. When a Democrat does it, it’s because of the “climate of hate” created by Republicans.
NORMAL BUT DERANGED: The Washington Times examines James Hodgkinson and angry Democrats.
Trump Derangement Syndrome leads to the obsession that every ill and annoyance of life is the work of Donald Trump, a traitor out to betray the nation to its enemies. Millions of Democrats, disappointed with the results of the 2016 elections, have built their lives around despising the president. It isn’t healthy for the republic, it isn’t healthy for those afflicted and it won’t be healthy for those who die at the hands of assassins.
The Alexandria assassin, slain at the site, seemed to have been obsessed with equal parts hatred of the president and devotion to Bernie Sanders. “He did not come off as a radical,” a friend in his hometown says of him. “He did not come off as an unstable individual. He wasn’t belligerent, he was just a kind of normal guy.”
Normal, but deranged. Mr. Hodgkinson’s “social media accounts” — Twitter, Facebook and the other instruments of the life of an obsession with trivia — showed him, observes The New York Times, “as deeply committed to liberal politics and distrustful of Republican-controlled Washington. In posts, he rails against Republicans, lavishes praise upon [Mr.] Sanders … and shows a deep engagement with the churn of news coming out of Washington.”
Senator Sanders isn’t responsible for Hodgkinson’s criminal act.
But Bernie Sanders is part of those who spread the derangement, of making losing an election, with all the pain that goes with it, both science and art. The derangement he suffers carries over into how he conducts his Senate business. The senator, an atheist, declared he wouldn’t vote to confirm a Trump nominee for a trade post because he doesn’t approve of the nominee’s Christian faith, though the Constitution expressly forbids making a religious test a qualification for office.
Read the whole thing.
Four years ago this week, a leftist lunatic named James T. Hodgkinson shot at a bunch of Republican lawmakers during their baseball practice in Alexandria, VA, almost killing House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. And ever since that day, our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters in the media have gone out of their way to erase Hodgkinson’s name from history.
That’s because he was one of their own, a Bernie Bro who vocally hated the GOP, and he went to that baseball field with the express purpose of killing as many Republicans as he could. As the Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney concluded: “The evidence in this case establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect, fueled by rage against Republican legislators, decided to commit an act of terrorism as that term is defined by the Code of Virginia.”
We know what Hodgkinson did and why he did it.
And now CNN contributor and noted fabulist Andrew McCabe is lying about it, because that’s his job.
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I’m old enough to remember the days before CNN stood for Certainly Not News. They can blame their declining ratings on Fox News if they want, but they’ve done this to themselves. There’s just no coming back from this sort of self-inflicted reputational damage. I don’t trust the Republicans any more than CNN does, but I trust CNN to tell the truth about the Republicans even less.
Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.
CONDEMN THEM? SHE’S DELIBERATELY INCITING THEM.
Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.
UPDATE: Flashback: Pelosi Worried About Angry Health Care Rhetoric. She’s not worried that angry rhetoric will lead to violence as such. She just wants the violence to be against the right people.
HARSH BUT EMINENTLY FAIR:
Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.
UPDATE: Ex-Sanders consultant arrested after allegedly planting weapons in jail for ‘evil’ escape plot.
(Updated and bumped.)
TWEET OF THE WEEK, FROM STEVE SCALISE:
ANDREW KLAVAN EXPLAINS WHY LEFTISTS BECOME THUGS.
JOURNALISM AS NARRATIVE CONTROL: James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.
We’ve been hearing a lot about “right-wing violence” lately. If we’re to believe our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters, there’s a Klansman on every street corner and a Nazi under every bed. There’s nothing more terrifying than a “white nationalist” who lives in his mom’s basement, which is why it’s okay for feral Antifa children to beat these guys up and drench them with balloons filled with piss. It’s “self-defense.”
But what happens when an act of violence is irrefutably motivated by left-wing ideology? What happens if, for example, a Bernie Bro named James T. Hodgkinson shoots at a bunch of congressmen for the explicit reason that he hates Republicans and wants them dead? How do we fit that into the preferred narrative?
We can’t. There’s no way. So we just leave it out entirely.
Well, for certain values of “we.” But it’s sad to see this even from the WSJ. Plus:
If James T. Hodgkinson had been a Trump supporter who shot and almost killed a Democratic congressman for political reasons, he’d be the most infamous man in America. But now, just two months after his attempt to murder a group of Republican lawmakers, he’s not even worth mentioning.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think the press is sad that Hodgkinson didn’t succeed.
Think of them as Democratic Party operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong. Even at the WSJ, it seems.
SO HE’S SAYING THE REPUBLICANS MADE HIM DO IT? (WHAT THE HECK, IT WORKED FOR BERNIE BRO JAMES HODGKINSON): Paul Pelosi hammer attacker David DePape launched assault because of conspiracy beliefs: defense.
JOHN HINDERAKER: Why Are Bernie Bros So Violent? “I am starting to get the feeling that James Hodgkinson wasn’t a one-off. James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has been conducting an undercover investigation of the Bernie Sanders campaign.”
2015 FACEBOOK POST SHOWS GUNMAN HODGKINSON DIDN’T LIKE REPRESENTATIVE SCALISE: The Daily Caller has published a Facebook post by James T. Hodgkinson. In the post the would be mass murderer maligns one of his victims, Congressman Steve Scalise. Remember, Hodgkinson was a Bernie Sanders supporter. Hey, Paul Krugman. That vote and the Facebook post strongly suggest Hodgkinson was a Democrat of some type. Some type.
MORE FOR PAUL KRUGMAN: Hodgkinson was a Trump-hater. Just like you, Paul. A Trump-hater. Of some type.
THE KRUGMAN PRECEDENT OF 2011:
You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.
Stand up, Paul! Stand up against the Democrat hate-mongers right now!
DID THE GUNMAN TARGET REPUBLICANS?:
It appears he did.
The suspected gunman is James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois, according to multiple law enforcement sources. President Trump announced that the gunman, who was wounded in a shootout with officers, has died at an area hospital.
…As people offered prayers for the victims, a profile of Hodgkinson began to emerge. A Facebook page belonging to a person with the same name includes pictures of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and rhetoric against President Trump.
MORE:
Anger about his own colleagues being attacked was evident in the words of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who, suit in tie, stopped by the crime scene to pray, was viscerally angry about his own colleagues being attacked.
“America has bene divided,” he said, “and the center of America is disappearing, and the violence is appearing in the streets, and it’s coming from the left.” Kng did indicate it was impossible to separate the hyperpartisan climate in Washington — especially people protesting President Trump — with Republican members of Congress being gunned down at a baseball scrimmage.
“The divisions within the country, people that can’t accept the results of the election that are determined to try to take this country down, take this organization down,” King said. “This city was filled up with demonstrations the day after the inauguration, where you couldn’t drive down the streets.”
All the spelling errors (Kng, etc) are in the Washington Post story. It was written quickly — like a blog post.
Remember, Paul Krugman salaciously politicized a similar homicidal attack on Democrat representative Gabrielle Giffords. He politicized the crime with the intention of smearing Republicans. We are now in a world where leftist Democrats ritually call for the death of President Trump. Krugman and his ilk are a cult of media liars and frauds.
RELATED: Don’t get politicized, says E. J. Montini at The Arizona Republic. Tell it to Paul Krugman first, pal. And we didn’t come together in the Giffords shooting, sir. Refresh your memory. Krugman and his klan separated us.
UNEXPECTEDLY: The Nashville school shooting brings out the worst in our media.
ABC’s Terry Moran noted the passage of Tennessee’s legislation during his live report, as a possible and thus far speculative motive. New York Times and NBC News contributor Benjamin Ryan, in a since deleted tweet, noted that Nashville “is home to the Daily Wire, a hub of anti-trans activity by @MattWalshBlog, @BenShapiro and @MichaelJKnowles.”
Several other outlets, including NPR, the New York Times and USA Today took time to correct Nashville law enforcement for previously misgendering the mass shooter and not using “his” desired pronouns. Prior to the confirmation of the shooter’s identity, the Washington Post, also in a since deleted tweet, wrote “GOP congressman from Nashville district ‘heartbroken’ by shooting. A 2021 photo shows his family with firearms.”
This sorry display bears hallmarks of the reaction to the 2017 congressional baseball field shooting by James Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer and avid MSNBC viewer. Shortly after that attack, host Joy Reid attempted to vilify House representative Steve Scalise as he was fighting for his life. “It’s a delicate thing because, obviously everybody is wishing the congressman well and hoping that he recovers. But Steve Scalise has a history that we’ve all been forced to sort of ignore on race.” The trope that coursed through the liberal media was that while the shooting was tragic, because of the politics of the people being shot at, they kind of deserved it.
HANOI JANE SHARPENS HER KNIFE:
No sooner had we forgiven Jane Fonda for her sins of many years ago than she gives fresh reason to condemn her. Today on The View–my God, does someone actually watch that show?–she suggested that pro-lifers should be murdered:
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Unfortunately, liberals’ tolerance of this kind of talk has had real consequences. Most notable, of course, is James Hodgkinson’s devastating attack on the Republican Congressional baseball team. And when Nicholas Roske set out to murder Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it is likely that he had extremist pro-abortion rhetoric in mind. But I see no significant effort by sane Democrats (assuming their increasingly unicorn-like existence) to distance themselves from the excesses of “activists” like Jane Fonda.
When someone who once sat atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun grinning from ear to ear says she wants half of America to be killed, I’m prepared to take her at her word. Naturally though, she’ll avoid any consequences among her fellow leftists by playing the “botched joke” get out of jail free card: Oh, sure! Jane Fonda says comment about murdering pro-life Republicans was ‘obviously in jest.’
MARK JUDGE: How the Hollywood Stasi Hypes Conservative ‘Violence’ and Downplays the Left’s ‘Days of Rage.’
There will be several films about January 6, but none about James Hodgkinson, a former campaign volunteer for socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who showed up at Republicans’ practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game and shot congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA), a congressional staffer, a lobbyist, and two Capitol Police officers. (Hodgkinson had tried to wipe out the entire GOP leadership.)
Expect no movie about Floyd Lee Corkins, who in August 2012 entered the offices of the Family Research Council in downtown Washington and shot a security guard. Corkins pled guilty in February 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to charges of committing an act of terrorism while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, and interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition. Corkins was angry that the Family Research Council is against same-sex marriage. “They endorse Chick-fil-A and also Chick-fil-A came out against gay marriage, so I was going to use that as a statement,” prosecutors quoted Corkins as telling investigators.
There won’t a film depicting the acts of Nicholas Roske, who came to Washington in June to attempt to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. If Hollywood even did do such a project, Roske would be portrayed as an innocent kid who got lost one night in Washington, D.C. He’d be played by Chris Evans, who also played Captain America. His parents would be played by Alec Baldwin and Mia Farrow.
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Although it dates all the way back to 2006, conservatives still honor the great German film The Lives of Others. It depicts the terror, violations rights, hypocrisy and intrusive abuse of the Stasi, the German secret police under communism. We are right to celebrate this great film, yet it is unfortunate that in the years since its release nothing on the right has emerged to match it.
But plenty on the left view the East Germans as the good guys in that movie.
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE LAW MAKE? I HAVE MY “FEELS”: The best part about being set up for an ambush is when you know you’re being set up for an ambush.
I did a 3-way debate on I24 TV this afternoon, where I had the opportunity to blow three really stupid (but popular) ideas out of the water: 1) “That the stricter the gun laws the lower the gun violence” (Chicago, anyone?); 2) “You can’t yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater” (um, that was dicta overturned more than 50 years ago, the Professor from Vanderbilt had no clue about it); and 3) speakers have to be held accountable for others’ actions.
As to the last point, some of you will delight in the blank deer-in-the-headlights stare I got when I asked them about James Hodgkinson or James Lee. When I asked them if we should hold Greta Thunberg liable the next time some eco-warrior hurts someone, they pretty much vapor-locked.
Friends, there’s a lot I admit to not knowing. But when it comes to free-speech issues, you’d damned well better not bring a knife to a gun fight.
UPDATE: Bumped, by Glenn.
BYRON YORK: Republicans push FBI over ‘suicide by cop’ outrage.
Last month some House GOP lawmakers revealed the previously unknown fact that the FBI ruled the June 14, 2017 shooting attack on the House Republican baseball team to be an act of “suicide by cop.” It was stunning news. How could the FBI do such a thing? The shooter, James Hodgkinson, expressed bitter hatred for Republicans, brought guns when he moved to the Washington area, had a hit list of GOP lawmakers in his pocket when he approached the baseball practice, checked to make sure the men on the field were in fact Republicans, and then opened fire. He nearly killed House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, badly wounded a lobbyist, and hurt two others before being shot to death by Scalise’s security detail and Alexandria, Virginia police.
It was absolutely clearly, without any doubt, an act of domestic political terrorism. And yet in November, 2017, when the FBI briefed House lawmakers on the investigation, they announced that they had determined the attack was an episode of “suicide by cop” — that is, despite all the evidence to the contrary, Hodgkinson was trying to kill himself, not Republicans.
Now, GOP lawmakers are pushing FBI Director Christopher Wray to explain how the bureau came to that conclusion.
No enemies to the left.
BYRON YORK: An Outrage From The FBI.
On June 14, 2017, a team of Republican lawmakers went to an athletic field in Alexandria, Virginia to practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. As they worked out, a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and pistol approached and opened fire. Representative Steve Scalise, the House Republican whip, was gravely wounded. A lobbyist was also seriously hurt, and a congressional aide and Capitol Police officer were wounded, as well.
The shooter, James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, was an active Bernie Sanders supporter who hated Republicans and particularly hated then-President Donald Trump. “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.,” Hodgkinson posted on his Facebook page. He thought of himself as part of the Resistance. He joined Facebook groups like “Terminate The Republican Party” and “Join The Resistance Worldwide!!”
Hodgkinson came to the Washington area in 2017, living out of a van parked in Alexandria. He brought his guns and developed a plan to attack Republicans. He went to the baseball field with a list of several GOP members of Congress in his pocket, along with physical descriptions of some of them. Before the attack, he asked Republican Representative Jeff Duncan, who was leaving practice early, whether the players on the field were Republicans or Democrats. Duncan said it was the Republican team. A short time later, Hodgkinson opened fire. After a rampage of nearly ten minutes, he was killed by Capitol Police and Alexandria Police.
The attack was a clear act of violent, politically-motivated domestic terrorism. There was simply no doubt about that. And yet last week, Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup, who had been at the practice, revealed that the FBI concluded Hodgkinson was simply trying to commit “suicide by cop.”
The FBI is on the other side. They’re not even trying to hide it.
JOHN HINDERAKER: Enough with the outrage.
Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot. You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie.
You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s cite just a few examples. Do you remember when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Leftist Democrats rioted in Washington that day. That riot was arguably worse, more violent and more destructive, than what happened in D.C. yesterday. The liberal rioters destroyed stores, set vehicles on fire and battled with the police. Six police officers were wounded.
I don’t recall a single Democratic office-holder denouncing the Democrats’ Inauguration Day riot, and the Associated Press came perilously close to praising the rioters.
Over the ensuing four years, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioted countless times, bringing devastation to cities like Portland, Seattle, Kenosha and Minneapolis. Did any Democrats denounce these riots? Not that I remember. Many Democrats endorsed them, or seemed to do so. . . .
And let’s not forget James Hodgkinson, even though every reporter in America apparently has. Hodgkinson was the Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who tried to assassinate the entire House Republican baseball team and very nearly succeeded, inflicting grievous and permanent injuries on Congressman Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was not the usual 20-something loner, he was a middle-aged union official who was not insane, but just full of hate. His Facebook page was festooned with over-the-top attacks on Republicans, taken directly from speeches by Bernie Sanders and every other prominent Democrat.
Yeah, I was accused of “whataboutism” for noting this earlier. But “whataboutism” is just a deflection-word for when Democrats’ dishonesty is pointed out. If you’re going to stand up for “decency” and “principles” then you need to have some of both.
UPDATE: A friend writes:
Flipside of whataboutism:
When you endorse one group’s mob violence, you’ve endorsed all mob violence. Which means the Dems pretty much own what happened on Capitol Hill.
Well, I saw a purported libertarian on Facebook trying to argue that Black Lives Matter’s violence was okay but invading the Capitol was not because reasons, but it wasn’t very persuasive.
In case you missed it, a would-be terrorist was arrested last week for allegedly plotting a massive, multi-faceted attack on the White House. The plotter, 21-year old Hasher Jallel Taheb, hails from Cumming, Ga. His motive appears to have been jihad.
Might this story have been a tad bigger if the alleged perpetrator hadn’t been a Muslim and “person of color?” Might it have been bigger yet if the sitting president had been a Democrat?
Of course it would have. It might even have gotten a fraction of the coverage that last October’s letter bomb scare received.
But wait, there’s more:
The reason I pose these questions is not to point out blatant media bias, which is so glaring at this point that no one who wasn’t trying could possibly miss it, but to ask how the current “climate of hate” in this country contributed to this Taheb’s blood lust, and what we as a society are doing about it.
Until fairly recently, I strenuously disagreed with this notion, and to some extent I still do. Climates, much like guns, do not kill people. People kill people. Blaming a climate lets the perpetrator off the hook because, when the killer’s agency is minimized, so too is his culpability. What else can a passive receptor of hate-filled messaging do except to kill the person whom he is told to despise?
The other reason I have resisted the idea of killer climates is that it seems to lead, like night into day, toward censorship. If climates kill, then our words, even our thoughts, must be policed. Preemptive measures must be taken. Children must be indoctrinated in government schools to prevent dangerous ideas from occurring in the first place. Adults must be shamed, doxxed, and fired from their jobs for fear of what other people completely unknown to the speaker might do upon hearing their words. I am on record saying that the blurring of distinctions between speech and violence is eroding our right to express ourselves, and I still believe that.
But in recent years, I have started to reevaluate my beliefs about killer climates. When a soak-the-rich socialist named James Hodgkinson attacked a group of Republican congressmen and staffers at a baseball practice in 2017, I couldn’t help but notice that he was feted by certain segments of the internet, most notably the Facebook groups we know he belonged to.
James Hodgkinson doesn’t strike me as a particularly bright individual, which tells me that he probably doesn’t do much of his own thinking. We know that he was a fan of Rachel Maddow, whose program appears on the network that pioneered the “24-hour hate” — a slightly elongated version of the “two minutes hate” that George Orwell spoke of — and it seems unlikely that his suggestible mind was not affected by it.
Read the whole thing. Exit question: Does the nonstop violent rhetoric against Trump and his supporters mean that leftists don’t actually believe that a “climate of hate” leads to violence — or that they do?