The political landscape has reached a dangerous fever pitch, characterized by the use of violent rhetoric and the open encouragement of extremism by high-level figures. Recent events highlight a critical need for citizens to “trust the evidence of your eyes and your ears” as a prominent, unhinged political figure—described as a “cornered New York sewer rat”—responds to mounting legal and political pressure with increasingly aggressive and anti-democratic actions.
The Recipe for Violence: Extreme Rhetoric and Stochastic Terrorism
The current crisis is not accidental; it is the culmination of years of deliberate cultivation of a zealous, violent base.
The Unpleasant Reality of Extremism: As noted, those who openly embrace hateful symbols like the swastika are rarely “pleasant people,” and the use of violent imagery like a noose is never a benign suggestion. These symbols and threats are indicators of a dangerous mindset.
A History of Incitement: Trump has been inciting violence for over a decade. Examples include:
Openly telling fans to “beat that protester up” and offering to pay their legal bills.
Calling the press the “enemy of the people,” which led to bomb threats, including one against the New York CNN headquarters.
Pardoning over 1,600 insurrectionists, some with violent records, reinforcing the idea that violence in his name will be rewarded.
His unhinged followers, such as the convicted pipe bomber Cesar Sayoc, have taken his rhetoric as a direct command to attack his critics. This pattern of indirect incitement is known as stochastic terrorism.
Projection and Insurrection: When military veterans and former intelligence officers released a video simply reminding members of the military and intelligence community of their oath to the Constitution and their duty to “not obey illegal orders,” the reaction was swift and extreme. Trump immediately labeled this a call for “sedition” and called for the participants to be “hung” or “put to death.” This dramatic, violent overreaction, which constitutes a call for the “execution of sitting elected Democratic officials,” is a classic case of projection from a “cornered rat.”
The Failure of Accountability and the Danger of Legal Scrutiny
The escalation is driven by a series of political and legal setbacks that have left the figure politically and personally vulnerable:
Epstein Files Fallout: Trump’s reversal on the release of the Epstein files, initially intended as a political win to signal control, backfired spectacularly when the Senate allowed the release to sail through quickly. This left him “underwater on Epstein,” especially given reports that his name appears within the files. The expectation of a protracted legal “volleyball” match was unmet, catching him completely off guard and exposing his vulnerability to his own base, who were promised the full truth about the “deep state” pedophiles.
Political Cracks: Trump is “sinking his entire party” and facing internal rebellion, evidenced by his recent lashing out at figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie. This political instability further fuels his lurch toward extremism.
The Power of an Oath: The veterans’ video—which simply restated the legal obligation for service members to follow lawful orders—was viewed as an existential threat because of the figure’s prior expressed desire to give illegal orders, such as his 2020 question to his Secretary of Defense: “Can’t we just shoot these protesters in the legs?” This underscores that the figure perceives the rule of law itself as an act of “insurrection” when it curtails his absolute power.
The Consequences of Extremist Language
The use of inflammatory language has tangible, violent consequences that are consistently downplayed or excused as “economic anxiety” or political theater.
Despite this clear pattern of violence, the prevailing political discourse has long prioritized “civility” and the preservation of institutions over confronting the danger head-on. As the targeted veterans noted, what is needed is “moral clarity”—the recognition that no threat will deter the sacred obligation to the Constitution and the duty to defy unlawful orders.
The problem for the entire nation is that even when the extremist base is “nutty, violent, unhinged, and batshit crazy,” the political figure knows they are followers who “take everything that he says as a direct order.” The fact that sitting members of Congress must issue a joint statement condemning the President’s public calls for their murder demonstrates the profound and immediate threat to American democracy and the rule of law.
