Conservative Columnist Warns of 'Violent Insurgency' of Armed Republicans in Chilling OpEd

From the streets to school board meetings to the United States Capitol itself, right-wing violence and the threat of it has skyrocketed across the nation.

In addition to the deadly failed insurrection mounted by pro-Trump extremists on January 6, a Northampton County Executive called for "20 strong men" to join him into intimidating school board members to voluntarily resign or "be removed." Far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia suggested Americans shoot liaisons going door to door with vaccine information—a suggestion that was met with cheers.

One attendant of a right-wing Turning Point USA conference asked founder Charlie Kirk, "When do we get to use the guns? ... How many more elections are they gonna steal before we kill these people?" Just this past month, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona was censured by his colleagues after sharing an animated video of him killing Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and attacking President Joe Biden with knives.

Now, a Republican columnist—Max Boot—is warning against the growing danger of armed right-wing extremists in a recent op-ed for the Washington Post.

Noting the casualties from such right-wing attacks as the El Paso shooting and the Pittsburgh shooting, Boot emphasizes that Republican lawmakers like Gosar, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and too many others only exacerbate the inclination to violence, using rhetoric like "the left hates America" and frequently posing with firearms in campaign ads.

He writes:

"We are at the greatest peril since the early 1970s — when the threat emanated from the left — of a violent insurgency in America. Indeed, the scattered terrorist attacks we have seen in recent years might be the early stages of such an uprising. If we see a full-blown insurgency ... Trump made the relationship explicit when he told the Proud Boys, an armed group that later took part in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, to "stand back and stand by."

Boot concludes:

"Republicans are complicit in fomenting violent extremism — and they have also become hostage to the extremists in their ranks. It's an ugly situation familiar from other people's civil wars, and it portends more grief and bloodshed for a country that has already seen far too much of both. It's not too late to avert a wider insurgency, but it will require Republicans to dial down their violent and apocalyptic rhetoric — which they show no sign of doing."

People agreed with the chilling assessment.

Boot isn't the only person concerned about the inclination of some right-wing lawmakers to encourage violence.

Moments after being censured by the House, Gosar retweeted a share of the violent video.