Stop Asking Me To ‘Unify’ With The Violent Left

We’ve entered a very dangerous time in our country. That should be clear to everyone — political violence is a sign of a deep and corrosive sickness in any society.

In America today, the problem is not political violence in the abstract. It is a specific kind of political violence which is overwhelmingly driven by a specific set of actors and groups. None of this emerged out of thin air.

Over the past week, leaders from across the political spectrum have come out and forcefully condemned Charlie Kirk’s murder and political violence more broadly. For that, we’re all very grateful. We should be grateful. There have been calls to unite and come together in the wake of Charlie’s murder, and I want to do that. I do.

Someday, I pray that we can be united as a country again and go forward together as one people, under one flag. But we are not united.

Upstream from the dehumanization and demonizing, political violence and rhetoric tearing apart our country, there is a divide on how we view America and Americans. Is America good? Is America evil? Is there something inherently special about Western civilization, or is this 2,000-year project rotten to the core?

And if it is something worth fighting for, which I believe it is, how do we do it? With words and ideas, like Charlie did? Or with firebombs and assassins’ bullets?

Political violence is always wrong. Period. Full stop. It doesn’t matter which side, in the name of any ideology or cause. It’s wrong. But in America today, political violence is not a problem that falls equally upon both sides. We have to be honest about this.

We must reject an attempt to paint [political violence] as some kind of random phenomenon with no particular creed or ideology — a kind of spontaneous insanity which takes place outside of any broader social context and has no pattern at all. That’s wrong.

Already, we’re hearing people talk about Charlie’s assassination in those terms. We’re told that we can’t possibly know what drove a killer to plan and carry out a murder of the most prominent conservative activist in America. But that’s a lie. We do know. The facts are plain and clear, and we have to speak truth in this moment, or there is no other side of the mountain.

The vast majority of Americans are against political violence. But there is a vocal, active minority that encourages and celebrates it. And that minority is overwhelmingly on the left.

Just last week, a YouGov poll found that a quarter, a full 25 percent, of the people who describe themselves as very liberal say it can be justified for citizens to use violence to achieve political goals. Less than 3 percent of very conservative Americans say the same. That’s too many — that is 3 percent too many.

But we are lying if we think that this is a both-sides thing. It is not. We have to confront it. This is an ideology that runs very deep. The numbers are virtually identical when it comes to whether or not it’s okay to celebrate the deaths of people with whom we disagree. 

And while large majorities in both parties were opposed to celebrating political violence, Democrats, overall, were nearly twice as likely as Republicans to believe that it is usually or always acceptable to celebrate the death of a public figure they oppose. What in the hell is going on?

Earlier this year, a poll found that more than 55 percent of people on the left believed that it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Donald Trump. These are not just some abstractions on a page. These are our fellow citizens. How can we come together with people who believe these things?

We’ve all seen the flood of posts on social media over the past week — not just a fringe few, but thousands upon thousands of people gleefully celebrating a father of two young children getting gunned down in broad daylight. 

Bluesky, the left-wing alternative to X, was so overwhelmed with these posts that the platform was forced to issue a statement warning its users to stop glorifying the murder. And it wasn’t just random social media trolls — it was journalists, elite college professors, and even politicians. All but saying Charlie’s assassination was justified because of what he thought, because of what he said.

We saw the flood of hit pieces — the most powerful media outlets in the nation, dishonestly attacking and villainizing Charlie in the most vicious possible terms. How can you ask us to unite under that? There can be no unity between good and evil. Somebody has to win this thing.

And don’t tell me it’s both sides. It didn’t happen in a vacuum. Over the past decade, we’ve seen an explosion of political violence. Not just one-off lone wolf attacks, but organized, systemic political violence at a mass scale. It is not organic.

It is the offspring of a dark and clandestine system funded in part with our own tax dollars, with a large network of foundations, NGOs, activist organizations, and front groups. This system lurks behind every radical leftist movement in our nation today.

The George Soros empire has financed a vast ecosystem of radicals all working together to unleash a tidal wave of violent anarchists on our streets and prop it up with an army of researchers and experts and journalists and propagandists who downplay political violence.

We’ve heard years of the left — their loudest voices — calling anyone on the right an extremist MAGA Republican, a fascist, a Nazi, an existential threat to democracy.

Check yourself. And don’t give me this both sides bullsh-t.

The man who killed who tried to kill Republican congressmen at the congressional baseball practice, nearly killing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Left-wing or right-wing violence?

Burn down cities during the “Summer of Love” in the George Floyd riots — left-wing violence or right-wing violence?

The Waukesha Christmas parade massacre, left-wing or right-wing violence? Left-wing.

The Covenant school shooting in Nashville, left-wing or right-wing? Left-wing.

The Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on President Trump, left-wing or right-wing? Left-wing.

The Trump International West Palm Beach assassination attempt. Left-wing.

The Abundant Life Christian school shooting. Left wing.

The United Healthcare Group’s CEO murder. Left wing.

Teslas burned, keyed, damaged, firebombed. Left-wing.

The murders at the Israeli embassy. Left-wing.

The ICE facilities firebombed. Left-wing.

The Minnesota Catholic school shooting. Left-wing.

The anti-white North Carolina stabbing. Left-wing.

The attempted Utah state firebombing. Left-wing.

And now, of course, the culmination of this vile trend, a left-wing assassination of Charlie Kirk. So, don’t give me this is about both sides. If we want to get to unity, let’s be honest.

Republished with permission from Sen. Eric Schmitt’s Tuesday speech. This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Eric Schmitt is the junior United States senator from Missouri. Elected in 2022, he serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Previously, he served as his state’s attorney general.