The Party of Political Violence: Barack Obama Crosses a Rubicon
3rd November 2025
bloodcurdling endorsement of political violence I have seen from an elected official—and none other than Barack Obama spent the weekend sidling up to him.
Brief recap: Jones has not denied reports that he sent text messages fantasizing about shooting Todd Gilbert, the Republican former speaker of the House of Delegates. He said he would rather shoot Gilbert twice than kill Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot. He later said he wished Gilbert’s young children would die in their mother’s arms. He sent these messages to a Republican and, when she asked him to stop, he sought to justify these violent thoughts with one sentence:
“Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
That’s the key justification for political violence: our agenda is more important than your life, or in this case, than your children’s lives.