top of page

A Rhetorical Look In The Mirror


Bomb threats, shootings, heated rhetoric, and aggressive confrontations. In the political news cycle, these rare and shocking events are becoming more prevalent.

In the last month, over a dozen packages containing explosives were sent to well-known political figures, including the Obamas, Clintons, and Joe Biden. Earlier, President Trump and top Pentagon officials were sent letters containing the lethal substance ricin. Luckily, no one was injured in these attempted attacks, but the lack of injury should not take our attention away from the horrific nature of these actions, no matter the party affiliation of the targets.

While physical attacks against political figures are not new occurrences in American history, the spreading of potentially dangerous rhetoric is an increasingly pressing issue in the age of social media. It is very rare for a political leader in the federal government to openly accept the use of violence against those with opposing views; although, it can’t be said our leaders are doing enough to combat politically motivated violence.

Much of the discussion surrounding the package bombs is the use of supposed “violent” rhetoric by top political officials. What should be noted is that unless someone is explicitly calling for violence against a person or group of people, they are not at fault for the horrific actions of others. Much of what is being said towards and by politicians is definitely charged, like President Trump calling the press the “enemy of the people,” or Hilary Clinton saying that liberals, “cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what [they] stand for.”

Blaming President Trump for the actions of the bomber is futile and misguided. The perpetrator, who has since been arrested for sending the packages, did not start his violence when Trump ran for office. Included in a long list of charges and arrests dating back decades is a threat to bomb an electric company in 2002. The presence of political violence did not start, and will certainly not end, with Trump. These accusations against the President have been mainly one-sided, but if the same rules for charged language are applied to members of all parties, then those politicians should be held accountable for such rhetoric.

After saying that Republicans’ health care plans would lead to the deaths of thousands of people, a Bernie Sanders supporter shot at a group of GOP representatives at baseball practice, almost killing one. Senator Sanders has not - and should not - be blamed for the actions of the shooter. He has every right to criticize legislation he disagrees with, and as Sanders’ words were just part of charged rhetoric, there is nothing inherently wrong with his statements. Such guidelines should also be applied for the charged language of President Trump.

While he often uses uncouth and accusatory words, Trump has not explicitly called for violence against others, which is a claim that is often disputed. When making a statement about the attempted bombings, President Trump condemned them, saying, “acts of political violence have no place in America.” Much of what the President says has drawn criticism, and sometimes rightly so, but those same critics accusing him of directly provoking violence are not seeing the whole picture.

However, while not explicitly inciting violence, controversial and heated statements fro