Wednesday’s shootings have blown gaping holes in the Left’s longstanding claim that only right-wing gun nuts commit acts of violence. This has always been a specious argument, partly because liberals have been so quick to conclude that the perpetrator in every violent act was a conservative (think Jared Lee Loughner). But James Hodgkinson’s unimpeachable liberal mala fides and the circumstances under which he opened fire have thrown the mainstream media into a tailspin.
But when the ugly truth surfaces, resist they much. Enter the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky with a feeble effort to charm readers into continuing to accept the gospel according to the Democrats. He makes an appeal to conservatives by conceding that the Left has been responsible for its share of gun violence. But then he tries a bit of misdirection by arguing “but that was in the past” (shades of Democrats attempting to weasel out of the fact that their party founded the Ku Klux Klan).
Unfortunately for Tomasky et. al., when it comes to assigning blame for the ugly polarized climate the nation finds itself in, there is plenty of hate — and violence — to go around. The acts of aggression since Trump’s nomination, alone, could fill a book. Nevertheless, The Daily Caller News Foundation has compiled a list of violent acts against conservatives in months since the Republican National Convention. The list is by no means exhaustive.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
In creating it, TheDCNF reviewed numerous articles detailing attacks against conservatives and Trump supporters. Only incidences of violence and threats of violence where the perpetrators were clear are included in the report, excluded are events where the instigator was difficult to discern.
July 2016:
—A Hillary Clinton supporter lights a flag on fire and attacks a Trump supporter in Pittsburgh.
—Trump supporters sue San Jose after protesters jumped on cars, stole hats, fought and threw eggs at them.
August 2016:
—Anti-Trump protesters attacked Trump supporters in Minneapolis, Minn., and beat an elderly man. Protesters also attacked Trump’s motorcade.
–A Tennessee man was assaulted at a garage sale for being a Trump supporter.
—A Trump supporter in New Jersey was attacked with a crowbar on the street.
September 2016:
—Protesters in El Cajon, Calif., chased and beat up a Trump supporter.
October 2016:
—A GOP office in North Carolina was firebombed and spray painted with “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else.”
November 2016:
—A high school student was attacked after she wrote that she supported Trump on social media. The perpetrator ripped her glasses off and punched her in the face.
—The president of Cornell University’s College Republicans was assaulted the night after Trump won the election.
—Students protesting Trump punched and kicked a Maryland high school student wearing a Make America Great Again hat.
—A high school student was arrested in Florida after he punched a classmate for carrying a Trump sign at school.
—A 24-year-old was reportedly attacked on a New York subway for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
—A group of black men in Chicago attacked a white man while raging against Trump.
—High school students in Rockville, Md., physically assailed another student for supporting Trump, kicking him while he was on the ground.
—At a California high school, a student yelled to a Trump—supporting student, “You support Trump. You hate Mexicans” before beating the girl.
—An anti-bullying ambassador who supported Black Lives Matter was arrested after shoving a 65-year-old man to the ground.
—A Texas elementary school student was beaten by his classmates for voting for Trump in a mock election.
—Two men punched and kicked a Connecticut man who was standing with an American flag and a Trump sign.
—A high school student in Florida punched another student who was holding a Trump sign.
—A man was murdered in Georgia after an argument about whether Trump would deport a Hispanic man.
December 2016:
—A Trump supporter was beaten and dragged by a car.
—Trump supporters were attacked at a rally in Richmond, Va.
January 2017:
—A Trump supporter was knocked unconscious after airport protesters repeatedly beat him on the head.
—A Trump supporter was attacked after putting out a fire started by anti-Trump protesters.
—Trump supporters were beaten in Oregon.
February 2017:
—California GOP Rep. Tom McClintock had to be escorted to his car after a town hall. At least four tires were slashed outside the town hall.
—Protestors knocked a 71-year-old female staffer for California GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher unconscious during a protest outside the representative’s office.
–Milo Yiannopoulos speech at the University of California-Berkeley was cancelled after rioters set the campus on fire and threw rocks through windows. They also attacked those who came to the event.
March 2017:
—Angry protestor at Middlebury College rushed AEI scholar and political scientist Charles Murray and professor Allison Stranger. Stranger was grabbed by the hair and shoved, sustaining injuries.
April 2017:
—A parade in Portland, Ore., was canceled after threats of violence were made against a Republican organization.
—Protesters shut down Ann Coulter’s UC Berkeley speech over safety fears.
May 2017:
– Republican Rep. Tom Garrett’s, his family and his dog were targeted by repeated death threats.
—FBI agents arrested a person for threatening to shoot Arizona Republican Rep. Martha McSally.
—Police in Tennessee charged a woman for allegedly trying to run GOP Congressman David Kustoff off the road.
—Police in North Dakota ejected a man after he became physical with GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer at a town hall.
June 2017:
—James Hodgkinson opened fire on a congressional GOP baseball practice, injuring five, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
—New York GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney received an email threat that read, “One down, 216 to go,” shortly after the shooting at the Republican congressional baseball practice.
—A man driving a white Malibu reportedly fired several shots at a man driving a truck displaying a “Make America Great Again” flag in Indiana.
This report, by Dave Brooks and Benjamin Decatur, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation. Meghan Flynn and Kent Strobl contributed to this report.
