Is Political Violence in America Rising?

0:00Nash Falls is the relentless new thriller from number one New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci When mild-mannered business analyst Walter Nash is recruited by the FBI to help bring down a global crime network, his life is turned completely upside down. Publishers Weekly says, in Baldacci's long list of heroes, Walter Nash is among the most memorable. Experience the full cast audio production of Nash Falls, led by McLeod Andrews. Available from Hachette Audio wherever audiobooks are sold. Also available in hardcover and e-book. The unfortunate reality is that political violence in America isn't a headline anymore.

0:37It's a steady drumbeat that keeps going. And if you've been paying attention to the news lately, it feels like it's getting closer, louder, and more personal than ever. So today we're going to walk straight into the questions almost nobody wants to answer out loud. Is political violence actually rising in this country? And if it is, what can regular people do when they don't have Secret Service detail, armored cars, or a button under the desk that makes a team of agents appear out of the drywall? Because the truth is simple. Most Americans live in a world where safety comes down to their own decisions, not someone else's.

1:14And after everything we've just seen in the last few years, ignoring that reality is not an option. So we're going to start with the receipts. Just look at the attacks we've watched unfold in real time recently. Minnesota lawmakers gunned down in their own homes at two in the morning. A former state speaker murdered alongside her husband. Attorney General's mansions burned to the ground. Another lawmaker and his wife shot 17 times and somehow surviving because she used her body to shield her daughter. and even a suspect in tactical gear impersonating a police officer in order to gain entry and a hit list with 17 names including governors, senators, and even Planned Parenthood facilities.

2:01That's not random crime. That's targeted political assassination. Then look at Charlie Kirk. Assassinated while speaking on stage at Utah Valley University. A gunman, a packed auditorium, and a nation watching one of the most visible conservative voices killed in front of thousands of people. Police later tie the shooter to online radical spaces, conspiracy loops, and resentment that has been growing unchecked for years. And then something interesting happens. Public reaction isn't just political. According to surveys, a quarter of Americans took what they called, quote-unquote, spiritual actions.

2:39People prayed, reflected, re-evaluated their lives. But underneath that emotional wave, there was a harder truth, a realization that public figures, especially ideological ones, are operating under a level of threat most people would never tolerate in their own lives. Then there was recently Tim Pool. Shots were fired at his property from a passing gunman in a car. No clear motive yet, and no confirmed suspect. Just an unmistakable signal that high visibility voices are becoming soft targets. The list keeps going. Even Benny Johnson received an assassination letter so graphic that the attorney general in his state calls it horrific.

3:23Now, there are people like Candace Owens who have claimed that a Ford and head of state ordered their assassination. Law enforcement dispute this story, but we are in this conversation, so it is worth noting and it is worth thinking about regardless of the veracity. Meanwhile, there were multiple assassination attempts on Donald Trump's lives, and nobody alive has ever seen anything like this before until now. A gunman at a golf course, another attempt at a rally, and every time one incident fades out of the news cycle, another one fades in. This isn't even to mention the National Guard members that were gunned down in D.C.

4:03recently. And then there's the earlier case people forget too quickly. Even Paul Pelosi was attacked in his home with a hammer by a man who said he believed he was fighting tyranny. The intruder broke in, called for Nancy Pelosi by name, and fractured Paul Pelosi's skull. The attacker is now serving decades in federal prison on top of a life sentence in California, but his actions fit the pattern perfectly, unfortunately. Ideology or delusion mixes with grievance and suddenly an ordinary home becomes a battleground. So yes, the answer is yes, political violence is rising, at least as far as we can measure it.

4:44Keep in mind, political violence is not something that is measured in crime statistics. It's generally not something that's tracked. And it really matters where the political cycle is at. And is the political cycle actually perpetuating this political violence? So let's run with the assumption that yes, political violence is rising and that it's not just that we're seeing it more in reporting. That would mean it's not hypothetical. It's not statistically buried in a report and it's not abstract via trends. But in events we can name and people we recognize and in homes we've seen in photos and communities that will never feel the same again.

5:26And it's happening on the left and on the right. It's happening in cities and suburbs. And it's happening to national figures and to state legislators whose names most of the country didn't even know until the sirens showed up on their street. But the bigger question is why all this violence? Why is political violence rising now of all times. And if ordinary citizens don't have security teams, armored doors, and intelligence briefings, what are they supposed to do if they are the subject of a threat? Here's the first uncomfortable truth. We built a world where political identity is treated like religious identity.

6:06When disagreements feel like betrayal, where bad actors don't see opponents, They see enemies, and they see enemies as people who must be eliminated. Now, the second truth is that the internet has created a permission structure for this unhinged behavior. A stranger can spend months radicalizing themselves inside a private feedback loop of videos, conspiracies, and forums, and there's no friction to bring them back to reality. No family member to interrupt them, no friend to gently steer them away with general acceptable social practices, just a digital path that gets darker with every click. The third truth.

6:46Security for public figures hasn't caught up with the threat environment. If an average American understood how exposed most officials are, the surprise wouldn't be that the violence happens. The surprise would be that it didn't happen more often. But we're not just here to diagnose the problem. We're here to answer the question that you actually care about. What can a normal person do? Somebody with no bodyguards and no armored vehicles and no advanced teams and no intelligence, just a house, a routine and a life they're trying to protect. because like it or not, these stories identify how vulnerable each and every one of us are.

7:24So start with this. You don't need paranoia. You just need simple awareness. Most targeted violence begins long before the first shot is fired or the first window is broken. It begins with patterns, reconnaissance, online stalking, or weird messages or unexpected visits. So these are signs that people can actually keep an eye out for. Stuff like people casing a location or vehicles sitting outside for too long. They're early indicators. They're not guarantees, but they are warnings, so it's not important to be panicked all the time simply when you see some warning signs. So staying vigilant is good to do.

8:00The next thing that you can control is your predictability, because threats thrive on patterns. If you leave at the same time every day, or return at the same time, walk the same routes, or post the same public habits online, they're pretty easy to find. So breaking a pattern costs absolutely nothing and can really throw threats for a loop. And this makes targeting you exponentially harder. Third, physical security is not just for wealthy people. A good lock and a reinforced doorframe and maybe even a motion detector and an exterior lighting upgrade for your home would make you from a soft target to a much too hard to hassle Target.

8:38The Minnesota suspect didn't kick down a door. He impersonated an officer because it was a faster way to get inside the home. That alone tells you how deterrence works. Make entry harder and attackers look elsewhere. Fourth, online privacy matters more than ever. Entire threat profiles exist because people unintentionally post their location, schedule, kids' school workplace, or political identity in ways they don't even realize online. You don't need to vanish from the internet. You just need to be intentional in not posting pictures of the front of your home or when you're away regularly. Now, let's talk about the part nobody generally wants to talk about.

9:19But the one tool that truly equalizes the playing field is the Second Amendment. It exists for a reason. Not for fantasy. Not for social media aesthetic. But for the moments where you need help and your help cannot arrive fast enough. or rather when you need help and you can trust yourself to arrive fast enough. Because if a politician can be attacked in their home while police are minutes away, you know what that means for the average citizen. You become your own first responder whether you like it or not, and so should they and so should we. Owning a firearm is not a solution by itself, but it is incredibly powerful.

9:58And in some instances, it is the only effective solution that can arrive fast enough. Of course, training matters and situational discipline matters and understanding the firearms laws matters. So if you're going to rely on a tool capable of saving your life, you have to treat it with respect. So arm yourself and know how to use the weapon of your choice because, again, you are your own first responder in your own self-defense and self-protection in your own home. Now here's the part people overlook in all this. They look at people who are prepared for bad situations and might think that they're paranoid and crazy.

10:37But here's the trick. Preparedness is actually quite calming. It's not paranoid. When you know that you have the ability to protect your family, all of a sudden the pressure drops, the panic fades, and confidence returns. It's always important not to get complacent because that allows you to train and be ready for any situation. But that confidence changes behavior before anything bad ever happens. But even all of that still leaves one final question. If political violence is rising in America, what stops it from spiraling out of control? Because it can't keep rising forever. So what keeps this from becoming the new normal?

11:17Here's the insight buried under every story that we've just talked about that I have been wanting to bring up. Political violence rises when social trust collapses. It's when people believe that the system is not listening. It's when disagreement turns into disgust and hatred. When the other side becomes a threat instead of a fellow citizen to be talked to and understood. And when institutions lose much trust from the individuals, the individuals feel justified in acting alone in these violent matters. This is the long-term risk. not just the violence itself, but the environment that is producing it.

11:56And that's where the average citizen has more power than they realize, because everyday culture sets the boundary lines long before the laws do. The way we speak to each other, the way we disagree, the way that we treat neighbors who vote differently, every small act is a counterweight against a society drifting towards extremism. So make sure to have conversations about differences and be open to understanding and listening to the perspectives of those around you, even if you don't agree with them. But the most important insight is this. America is not powerless. People aren't powerless. And this rising violence trend does not mean guaranteed violence.

12:35It simply means vigilance and awareness. It means taking responsibility for your own security without surrendering your humanity. If you're listening to this, here's what I want you to take away. Political violence may feel like a storm on the horizon, but storms don't get to decide everything. Because you can prepare, and you can have principles, and your community also matters, and stability isn't something that's just given to you or that is inherent. It's something you have to build before the storm arrives, and it's kind of built one choice at a time as you build the bricks and prepare for the worst while living your life in the best way possible.

13:15Average people have more agency than the news ever gives us credit for. And the more you understand that, the less room that fear has to operate in your life. So despite the fact that we've seen threats on people like Benny Johnson, or assassinations of people like Charlie Kirk, or attacks on political figures like Paul Pelosi, it's important to remember that if you stay aware, stay grounded, and stay capable, then you're going to be in very healthy and safe straits. Because the moment regular people reclaim their own sense of security, the cycle that fuels political violence loses all of its momentum and its power.

13:54So that's the path forward and that's the line that is worth holding. Thank you for listening to the Let Freedom podcast. Tune in tomorrow for our full episode. And don't forget to leave us a comment on Apple Podcast, which we will be reading next week at the end of our episode, so make sure to leave that comment so you can get a shout-out. Catch you in the next one.