Republican strategist Scott Jennings pushed back hard when podcast host Tara Palmeri claimed during a Sunday debate that political violence was an equivalent issue on “both sides” of the aisle.
Jennings said on “The Tara Palmeri Show” that one recommendation he would give Democrats is to dispose of their “violent tendencies,” noting the vandalism against Tesla that spiked due to Elon Musk’s involvement with President Donald Trump’s administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Palmeri interrupted to refute his claim that political violence is a left-wing problem by bringing up the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, but Jennings noted that it was “one bad day” rather than a pattern.
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“The left has a problem with violence,” Jennings said. “It is in its heart right now. And they need to get rid of it.”
“I don’t think it is only the left. I mean, you have literally seen people on both sides committing violence. I think that the problem is not the left— I think it is the extremes on both sides of the party,” Palmeri responded. “And that is what’s happening. They’re the loudest voices — whether the leaders want them or not — and they’re the ones who tend to be the most violent. I don’t think that’s fair to say it’s only the left.”
Jennings alleged that noteworthy left-wing individuals supported the vandalism against Tesla and that they defended alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.
“People didn’t get hurt at least,” Palmeri said. “I mean, someone died on January 6th.”
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died on Jan. 7 after he engaged rioters, but the chief medical examiner of Washington, D.C. found that he suffered two strokes and died of natural causes.
Palmeri asserted she does not support vandalism, but Jennings said it was worse than vandalism as there was firebombing.
“It’s dangerous,” she added “But it’s happening on both sides.”
Jennings asked who on the right is currently committing violence. Palmeri appeared stumped.
“Oh my gosh. Well first of all, when you’re in power, you don’t tend to be the ones that are doing that,” she said.
“You can’t think of any?” Jennings asked.
Palmeri then pivoted back to Jan. 6, which Jennings acknowledged was “terrible.”
“It should not have happened … Let me just check my calendar,” he said. “And it was five and a half years ago.”
Palmeri then brought up how a man in 2022 attacked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi in their house with a hammer. Jennings suggested he was not “a conservative.”
The attacker, David DePape, said he leaned “right of center,” according to CNN.
Palmeri then argued individuals “on both sides have faced assassination attempts” to bolster her claim. Trump most notably faced two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign.
“It’s not a singular party thing. There are radicals on the left and radicals on the right. There is radicalism,” Palmeri said. “And people choose what they want to believe — and they believe it so much that they want to hurt people. I mean, you see it all the time.”
“I think you are discounting the very obvious evidence that this radicalism on the left is more than radicalism. It’s anti-Americanism. It’s anti–Western civilization,” Jennings retorted. “I mean, just look at the coddling and the encouragement of what’s going on on these college campuses .. the left right now— all these people trying to tear down America and tear down the West — inhabit the left. And they largely inhabit the Democratic Party. Whether you like it or not, that’s where those people’s political home is right now. And until they get rid of it, they’re gonna have a real problem.”
The Republican strategist also noted the May murder of two Israeli Embassy staff members near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. The suspected shooter, Elias Rodriguez, shouted “Free Palestine” after allegedly killing Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said during a press conference.
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