The left normalizes political violence. We can't accept it. | Opinion

Only a few days after an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and other administration officials, I'm struck by how little the country seems to care. The shooting was quickly shoved out of the news cycle by a monarch visiting the White House and Trump's face appearing on passports.

This attempt wasn't as close as the bullet that grazed Trump's ear in 2024. But it was still another armed man with a plan to kill the most powerful person in the world. That this keeps happening should prompt serious national reflection, not just two days of headlines.

What worries me is that political violence is starting to feel less like a national crisis and more like background noise, especially to people in my generation, Gen Z, born between 1997 to 2012. The danger isn't only that violence gets openly condoned. It's that it gets quietly accepted as part of how American politics works now.

Americans are becoming acclimated to violence

Too many Americans seem to have priced in that Trump is a polarizing figure and that this is what comes with the territory. But that kind of shrug cedes ground to the people who want to use violence to destroy American politics.

This latest attempt barely registered as a blip in the news cycle. The shooting in 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania, held the country's attention for weeks.

Even Trump, one of the most combative and grievance-driven figures in American public life, moved on fast. This was the third armed attacker to get into dangerous proximity to him. Maybe at this point it really is routine for him.

That's the larger problem. It's starting to feel routine for the rest of us, too. And not just presidential assassination attempts: Americans are getting used to political violence as a feature of public life.

You only have to look at the reaction to Luigi Mangione fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 to see how warped this has become. A poll found that 41% of voters under 30 said Thompson's killing was acceptable or somewhat acceptable. That tracks with separate polling showing roughly 4 in 10 young Americans believe political violence can be justified in some circumstances.

These numbers should alarm anyone who thought the question of killing people you disagree with was settled.

The reaction to conservative activist Charlie Kirk's killing showed the same rot. What should have been a moment of national reckoning became, in too many corners of the online left, an occasion for celebration and mockery, including attacks on his grieving family.

Political violence is being normalized on parts of the progressive left

Political violence is not solely a problem of the American left. But right now, among progressives, particularly younger ones, the rhetoric excusing and at times glorifying violence has gotten a foothold that nobody on that side seems willing to pull up.

Far-left figures like Hasan Piker have built enormous platforms in part by flirting with, and sometimes openly endorsing, violence against political opponents.

This isn't most Democrats or most progressives. The overwhelming majority don't condone any of this. That's exactly why Democratic leaders have an obligation to push these voices to the margins where they belong.

Instead, the opposite is happening. Democratic politicians cozy up to Piker because he has the audience they want. The New York Times runs friendly interviews with him. Candidates campaign alongside him. Whatever the calculation, it isn't drawing a line.

It's not enough for this violence to be condemned after the fact, which to their credit, Democrats generally do. The harder work is making clear that the people who normalize or encourage violence don't belong in their ranks.

If Democrats actually want to lower the temperature, they have to stop platforming the people raising it.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.