HALEY KENNINGTON: The Democrats’ New Fad Is Violent Rhetoric

Despite two assassination attempts against President Donald J. Trump, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is adding fuel to the fire, joining a growing list of Democrats whose rhetoric appears designed to incite violence.

While speaking at the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner in New Hampshire—an event that doubles as a launchpad for presidential hopefuls—Pritzker declared: “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.”

This statement by Pritzker wasn’t a simple slip of the tongue. It was a prepared line in a calculated speech delivered in a critical early primary state.

Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi immediately condemned the remarks, saying, “The governor’s inflammatory and dangerous speech is focused on further dividing our country, and I hope to see Illinois Democrats condemn his call for violence.”

But don’t count on it. Pritzker is obviously pandering to the activist base of the Democratic Party, which has become increasingly comfortable with resorting to violence and intimidation to achieve its political goals.

Just days earlier, on his show MisinfoNation on CNN, Donie O’Sullivan confronted far-left influencer and former New York Times/Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz about her sympathies for Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione murdered a husband and father of two in cold blood. Lorenz, who had previously described feeling “joy” about the killing, appeared to become an outright fangirl of the alleged killer during her interview with O’Sullivan.

“It’s hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America — as if we don’t lionize criminals,” Lorenz said, adding, “As if we don’t stan murderers of all sorts. We give them Netflix shows.”

O’Sullivan nodded and asked, “The women standing outside the court?”— clearly echoing Lorenz’s point.

In response, Lorenz fawned like a high schooler with a crush on the school’s quarterback. “You’re going to see women, especially, that feel, like, oh my God, here’s this man who’s a revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who’s young, who’s smart, he’s a person that seems like a morally good man, which is hard to find,” she gushed to O’Sullivan.

A “morally good man”? He’s an accused killer. And O’Sullivan’s response was just as disturbing: “I’m sure you wouldn’t like to be compared to a Trump supporter,” he said, “but some of how people cannot understand why people have sympathies for Mangione strikes me as the same as a lot of media not understanding why people support Trump.”

So, only a Trump supporter would denounce the cold-blooded murder of a father and husband with two young children at home?

This moral decay on the left didn’t come out of nowhere—it’s been festering for years. Rep. Maxine Waters openly called for mobs to harass Trump officials wherever they went. Chuck Schumer stood outside the Supreme Court and threatened justices by name, warning they’d “pay the price” for overturning Roe v. Wade.

This wasn’t a protest—it was a warning shot, a signal that political violence was not only acceptable but encouraged. What we’re seeing now isn’t some sudden eruption—it’s the fallout from years of unchecked rhetoric and deliberate disregard for consequences. Not long after Schumer’s inflammatory remarks, a man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home, armed with weapons and a chilling plan to assassinate him.

And who can forget the riots of 2020? Cities burned. Stores looted. Police brutalized. And all under the banner of “peaceful protest.” It was chaos masked as a cause.

The chaos hasn’t stopped. In recent months, radical activists aligned with Hamas have occupied campuses and terrorized Jewish students. GOP offices have been firebombed. Tesla dealerships have been set ablaze. Car owners have been harassed simply for driving what’s been deemed the “wrong” brand.

What major Democrat has called for the violence to end? None that I’ve seen.

Regrettably, in today’s Democratic Party, calls for disruption have seemingly become resume boosters, not dealbreakers.

That’s why it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Pritzker’s speech in New Hampshire was no accident but rather an audition reel for higher office.

If this is what qualifies as presidential material in today’s Democratic Party, America should be very concerned.

Haley Kennington (@LadyKennington) is an investigative journalist and conservative commentator.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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