Marc Thiessen: Left Wing Hate Long Predates Trump. Time to Hold THEM Accountable?

And the left's thirst for political violence is nothing new either!

With both the Pittsburgh shooting and would be mail bomber the media and Democrats IMMEDIATELY blamed Trump. But don't you dare hold Democrats accountable for their rhetoric when left wing violence rears its head.

A column today by Marc Thiessen:

Our descent into vitriol began long before Trump – and Democrats are culpable too

WASHINGTON — After a deranged Democrat living in his van nearly assassinated Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.), firing more than 70 rounds at House Republicans practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D., Calif.) declared it "outrageous" that anyone would blame Democrats' rhetoric for inspiring the shooter. "How dare they say such a thing!" Pelosi thundered. Never mind that the shooter echoed Democratic vitriol against the president, ranting on Facebook that "Trump is Guilty & Should Go to Prison for Treason" and that "Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co."

Now Democrats are doing exactly what they condemned, blaming President Trump's divisive rhetoric for the recent spate of mail bomb attacks and the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The truth is they ceded the moral high ground years ago. Our descent into vitriol began long before Trump — and Democrats and their allies are as culpable as the president.
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When Trump took office, Democrats abandoned their role as the "opposition" and declared themselves "the resistance." Look up "resistance" in the Oxford dictionary and you'll see the definition "the use of force or violence to oppose someone or something." William E. Scheuerman, professor of political science at Indiana University, notes the word resistance "first surfaces in debates about tyrannicide, the violent removal from power of misbehaving kings who usurp authority not properly belonging to them." Scalise would have been forgiven for pointing out that his would-be assassin took Democrats' calls to "resistance" literally.

More recently, some Democrats were peddling unfounded accusations that Brett M. Kavanaugh participated in gang rapes in an effort to destroy the Supreme Court nominee. Clinton defended smashmouth tactics, declaring that "you cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for."

None of this excuses Trump's rhetoric, but it does make his Democratic accusers hypocrites. When you traffic for decades in hateful, violent political rhetoric, you have lost the moral authority to effectively condemn others for doing so. Indeed, Democrats arguably bear much of the blame for creating Trump. One of the reasons voters rallied behind Trump is precisely because, after years of seeing their standard-bearers act like punching bags, Trump presented himself as a counterpuncher who isn't afraid to fight back and give as good as he gets. The results are ugly. Trump is wrong to call the media the "enemy of the people" and to celebrate a congressman body-slamming a reporter, and the host of other terrible things he has said. But Democrats were dragging us into the political gutter long before Trump came along. If they think Americans elected a Frankenstein's monster, they are Dr. Frankenstein.

Thiessen includes a number of examples of violent Democrat rhetoric. Frankly, the list was way too short. Those with long experience can recall the hate directed at Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. When it comes to hate, the left can't help itself. And they are NEVER held accountable!