It’s become the norm to talk about wanting to kill Trump or at the very least wanting him to die – and to be proud of it
It was early in Trump’s first term that I noticed people talking about killing Trump. These were people I knew and had known for five decades or more. I’d never talked about politics before with these people, and I hadn’t been aware that they’d had any especially deeply-held feelings about politics. But all of a sudden, each of them stated in a casual manner that they wanted Trump killed.
It was the casual manner that got me. Neither knew my political leanings, but it was assumed that I agreed with them – didn’t everyone who didn’t sport a tail, horns, and a swastika tattoo? With the first person I was so stunned I said nothing. But later, with the second person, I challenged him – to no avail.
You’ve probably seen similar public statements from Trump-haters over the years – on TV and on social media, for example. It’s become standard. In the last year I’ve heard it again from two different friends, each of them people I’ve known for many years and who’ve never spoken this way before. Neither have any history of being leftist firebrands and in fact each have long been political moderates.
But not on the topic of Trump, apparently. The first was over the phone, and my long-time friend said that if she ever was given a terminal diagnosis she would try to kill Trump. This seemed only slightly tongue-in-cheek and deeply unfunny. She went on to vent quite a bit on how much she hated him. My response was that I hope she never receives a terminal diagnosis.
The most recent person to express this was even more disturbing. This was from an old friend who’s one of the most mild-mannered people I know – ordinarily. We were having lunch and catching up, since I hadn’t seen him in a long while, and towards the end of the meal he said that if he had a rifle (which he doesn’t) and if Trump came anywhere on his property (which Trump won’t) he would kill him. With the previous people saying this, they’d only given very general reasons why; I guess they thought his evil was so very obvious it needed no explanation. But this time I asked him why, and his answer stunned me: it was that Trump wasn’t even human. This was said with vehemence and a kind of fervor and certainty that indicated a very deeply held belief.
Again, I asked why he said that. I wish I could remember his exact words, but it was something to the effect that it was obvious just by looking at him – that he cared about no one and nothing but himself, and that he didn’t love America but hated it. He offered no particular evidence and I didn’t press it; to pursue the conversation was going to be counterproductive. This was a person who already knew my general politics, but I think he assumed that despite being on the right that I, as a moral and upright person, would be a Trump-hater too.
There are a great many people like this, and their sentiments are considered perfectly okay and even moral by other people just like them, people I would never have described as political activists or leftists, but who want Trump dead and probably are surrounded by others who want him dead too. The sentiment has been mainstreamed, and it happened quite early in Trump’s first term although it’s only gotten worse..
A couple of days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Jimmy Kimmel did a sketch about the coming festivities. It was supposedly funny, and there certainly were plenty of people or bots in the comments to this video who seem to think it was indeed funny. Here are a few seconds that got a lot of attention in retrospect, for obvious reasons:
Today Melania Trump issued a reaction:
“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.” …
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate. A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” she said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”
Good luck with that; I don’t think it’s going to happen. There’s an audience for it and an appetite for it, and although Kimmel doesn’t have high ratings I don’t see them pulling him.
Last night I came across the following video and clicked on it because of the title. I kept watching it because it periodically featured people – I believe mostly from TikTok? – expressing the most outrageous death wishes on Trump, with a venom that is extraordinary and no sense of needing to hide their sentiments. For example, two very short segments:
Those aren’t even the worst ones. Here’s the whole thing, in case you’re interested:
There’s plenty more where that came from. What’s happened is not just a norming of such behavior – although there’s that – but a message that it’s not only okay but that’s it’s cool and virtuous, something of which to be proud.
It spreads like a contagion. Some people are more vulnerable to it than others, but I couldn’t have predicted in advance who among my friends would be most vulnerable to it. I also have plenty of friends and relatives who are Democrats and who detest Trump, but at least I’ve never heard them wish him dead.
I enjoy Mr. Peter. He has his head screwed on right.
Hasan Piker recently justified the murder of the healthcare insurance CEO.
Who created our current healthcare insurance system? It seems to me if people hate what the system produces they should hate those that created it.
From: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/04/the-road-were-on.php
In the conversation published by the Times, Piker explained:
Friedrich Engels wrote about the concept of social murder. And Brian Thompson, as the United Healthcare C.E.O., was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder. The systematized forms of violence, the structural violence of poverty, the for-profit, paywalled system of health care in this country — and the consequences of that are tremendous amounts of pain, tremendous amounts of violence, tremendous amounts of deaths. And that was a fascinating story for me, because Americans are very draconian about crime and punishment. They’re very black and white on this issue.
And yet, because of the pervasive pain that the private health care system had created for the average American, I saw so many people immediately understand why this death had taken place. Even before they knew who the shooter was or what the motive was, we had universalized this pain so much so that virtually every American has a similar experience. A shared experience, where they have a loved one who spent their last days — instead of spending them with their family — spending it on the phone, talking to their health care provider to maybe get a little bit of economic respite so they don’t carry on medical debt for their next generation, for their next of kin.
That’s a harrowing process for a lot of people. And for them, that is murder; for them, that is torture. And that is the reason why, I think, the reaction to Luigi Mangione, especially by younger generations, was not so negative.
I wonder how those who have no problem w violent acts towards and even murder of Trump would react if they got a punch in the face for advocating such violence.
I am reminded of the “journalist” who back in 2019 told us that the high school student at the Washington Monument had a “punchable face.”
This is exactly what I’ve been observing in D friends/family for the last 2 years. It’s quite frightening to me. How so many people who are otherwise normal become psychotic when it comes to Trump. Mass population delusion. It’s this mass mental illness that will spark either CW2, or great right vs left violence.
And the Democrats/media are perfectly fine with that.
I wonder how those who have no problem w violent acts towards and even murder of Trump would react if they got a punch in the face for advocating such violence.
They don’t expect consequences. Most seem to be women, and the males tend to be soy boys. Usually from nice neighborhoods where they were insulated.
As a general trend I have noticed women often lack appreciation of possible consequences.
In the late 90s or early 2000s, I was at a party at the house of some of my wife’s family’s friends in a nice upper middle class neighborhood. One guest was a young attractive female, very tiny. Probably dot Indian. This woman was happy talking about an incident she was involved in at a stop light, and how she smashed some dude’s lights out. She couldn’t have defended herself from the average 13 year old boy and was 100% dependent on the dude’s restraint. She was very happy about causing damage with impunity.
And the Democrats/media are perfectly fine with that.
They won’t be if the results are not what they want.
We all remember having Republican friends wishing the same thing on Obama, right? Never ever happened. I just can not understand the blood lust of the Dems. I have lived through too many assassinations. Do not want to see another one. No matter who.
I do not think that those who wish for it, understand what would happen afterwards.
There are some interesting black conservative podcasters out there with interesting things to say.
I think it’s much tougher for older white Democrats to change. I expect very little from that cohort.
First, I want to point out that two veterans of the blogosphere, Neo and Ann Althouse, are among the most sensible, level-headed voices in social media, and they are both women of intelligence and moderation. However, I have noticed in the general population the voices of many women are hate-filled and intemperate with a high level of self-righteousness. Why? One can only speculate.