If You’re Not Focused On Fighting Left-Wing Violence, Step Aside

The spate of leftist-led violence in America (particularly against conservatives) has become a nationwide problem. So, what are elected Republicans going to do about it?

Following the horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, many GOP officials quickly posted statements rightly condemning the killing. With few exceptions, however, there was something notable missing from these figures’ responses: an action plan on how to lawfully confront the evil harming their voters and everyday Americans.

Case in point: Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.

Addressing Kirk’s assassination during a recent interview, the Sooner State Republican spoke about the importance of civility and living out one’s faith in public. While there’s nothing wrong with those statements (encouraging people to embrace Christ is a good thing), it’s Lankford’s subsequent question to the audience that is downright embarrassing.

“I would push back on all of us and say we should live out our faith — the principles of our faith — all of the time, on even how we respond in anger in moments like this, but to also ask each other: Why can’t we at least talk about things where we disagree?” (Emphasis added).

As acknowledged by Lankford himself, talking “about things where we disagree” was a hallmark of who Kirk was. He regularly went into the belly of the beast (i.e. college campuses) to hear from those with different views and tried to bring them not only to conservatism, but to Jesus Christ.

And the extremist elements within the radical left executed him for it.

Lankford went on to display his impotence on the issue during a CNN interview several days later.

This is not to say conservatives (or anyone) should be choosing violence over civil dialogue. Far from it. But Lankford’s feckless responses are an encapsulation of the weakness within a Republican Party that is (largely) indifferent when it comes to cracking down on the leftist-backed violence plaguing the nation.

Look no further than Lankford’s colleague, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. While offering prayers after news of Kirk getting shot became public, the retiring North Carolina senator later decided to direct the brunt of his anger at conservative pundits expressing outrage over Kirk’s assassination.

“What I was really disgusted by yesterday is a couple of talking heads that sees this as an opportunity to say we’re at war so that they could get some of our conservative followers lathered up over this,” Tillis fumed to National Journal reporter Nancy Vu on Thursday. “It seems like a cheap, disgusting, awful way to pretend like you’re a leader of a conservative movement. And there were two in particular that I found particularly disgusting.”

What Lankford, Tillis, and too many other squish Republicans (see also Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Sen. John Curtis) fail to recognize is that there is a sizable faction of the American left that has no interest in peacefully coexisting with their political opponents. One only needs to look at laundry list of leftist violence against Christians and conservatives in recent years and the disgusting drivel spewed by prominent Democrats, media talking heads, and other leftists in the wake of Kirk’s assassination to understand this dark reality — one of which Republicans like Lankford and Tillis seem uninterested in confronting.

[WATCH: Hemingway: GOP Needs To Take Left-Wing Violence Seriously]

The radicalization of unwell individuals has given way to a left-wing terror threat against the American homeland. While lone, mentally and spiritually broken actors are certainly part of it, there’s also organized anarchist groups like Antifa, whose violent activities extend across the entire country.

Instead of fecklessly embracing both sides-ism and a kumbaya attitude, elected Republicans need to grow a pair and use every legal mechanism available to them under the law and Constitution to destroy the leftist violence threatening American society. That means, for example, investigating individuals and organizations financially supporting these violent acts and bringing the full force of the law down upon them for any and all lawbreaking.

This call to action doesn’t just apply to national Republicans, either. State and local GOP officials should be exploring avenues to fracture and dismantle the organized leftist violence permeating their jurisdictions to ensure the safety and prosperity of their constituents.

The bottom is line is that there is a destructive, evil force in this country that is dead set on harming any conservative-leaning American who dares to oppose leftists’ pagan religion — a corrosive ideology that brainwashes its followers into viewing violence against their political opponents as an acceptable tool to acquire unfettered power.

If the Lankfords and Tillises of the Republican Party aren’t prepared to do what is necessary to protect the people they were elected to serve, that’s fine. But they shouldn’t keep pretending they have any business remaining in public office.

Americans need elected representatives with the fortitude required to confront and destroy this dark ideology head on. Any Republican not up to this challenge should quit wasting everyone’s time and resign their seat immediately.

The future safety of America depends on it.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood