Matt Taibbi, as he so often does, hit the nail on the head with his Substack post calling the past eight years a "slow-motion assassination" of Donald Trump. The escalating rhetoric, the lawfare campaign, the comparisons to Hitler (and calling him "worse than Hitler), and the escalating panic that despite their legal and illegal campaign to destroy him he has become the likely winner of the 2024 election. 

In a world where every time travel fantasy includes going back in time and killing baby Hitler, it is no surprise that somebody took a shot at Trump. Republicans were expecting it, even predicting it openly.

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"It became cliché that he was the embodiment of all evil and needed to be stopped “at all costs.” By late last year, mainstream press organizations were saying legal means had failed, and more or less openly calling for a truly final solution to the Trump problem."

— Val 💃 (@ExcusedEarly) July 14, 2024

Democrats have engaged in assassination porn for years. Literal assassination porn--with leftists literally calling for a new John Wilkes-Booth to arise for bombing the White House and stabbing Trump-like Caesar. Snoop Dog did a video in which he shoots Trump himself. Watch the escalation of violent rhetoric:

A compilation of Democrats directly calling for violence against Trump 👇

Tonight we saw the result of this incitement.

pic.twitter.com/oIhL3MQ0Vk

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) July 14, 2024

Taibbi believes that the mainstreaming of Trump assassination musings began with the failure of the Mueller Report, on which Democrats placed so many hopes. 

In retrospect the Mueller probe was the beginning of a slow-motion assassination, in which every cell of Trump’s person was systematically attacked, sometimes for show, sometimes for real political effect. As documented over the years Trump opponents went after all his constitutional rights, almost in order: censored, surveilled, unreasonably searched, dealt excessive fines, etc. This dragged people like me, Glenn Greenwald, and others to his defense, on the grounds that this was an attack on the rights of all people, but in hindsight it was deeper than that.

The physical suppression of Trump at some point became a psychological imperative for his political enemies, who first wanted him out of office, then out of sight, then deprived of counsel, barred from the ballot, bankrupted, and finally jailed (on the grounds of being a “triple national security threat”). Panic set in when that all failed. There have been many revealing moments, like a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho just last week in which PayPal mogul Reid Hoffman had a tense exchange with former friend Peter Thiel, who suggested Hoffman and his friends already erred once in making Trump a martyr, and were fulfilling the classic definition of insanity by doing it again and expecting different results. As reported in Puck News (more or less correctly, according to multiple sources), Hoffman grumbled, “Yeah, I wish I’d made him an actual martyr.”

Democrat congressman Dan Goldman: President Trump “cannot see public office again . . . and he has to be eliminated.” pic.twitter.com/oTCDHanaqf

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 14, 2024

When pundits and Congressmen talk about "eliminating" Trump or "putting a bullet in his head," you can't help but believe that they mean what they say. The left believes that using the "wrong" pronoun is genocidal, but somehow saying "eliminate" and bullets aimed at brains are merely anodyne metaphors...C'mon, man. 

That they mean this is shown not just by randos on Twitter complaining that the assassin failed--randos on Twitter say these idiotic things all the time and you can't blame a party for its worst supporters--but by the fact that actual Democrat elected officials and their employees said the same thing out loud, as did some academics and major influencers. 

Now they want us to tone down the rhetoric.

Fuck every single one of these assassins.

pic.twitter.com/SnzqXmmBDw

— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) July 14, 2024

You don't tut-tut Hitler--you kill him. We all know that, because Hitler is a genocidal maniac who would kill millions if he could. And Trump is likely to return to the Oval Office. 

I don't for a second believe that the media or Democrats took a hit out on Trump--they just asked that somebody do it for them. 

As for the "both sides" argument. It is absurd. The Democrats play games with misquotes and distortions in order to make Trump sound Hitlerian. After 4 years as president we know that Trump doesn't jail his opponents, put them in camps, assassinate his political opposition, or even violate the Constitution as Biden routinely does. 

NEW: Rachel Maddow expressed concern that President Trump would detain her in camps meant for illegal immigrants.

I feel like they forgot what Clinton said about us all being ‘deprogrammed’ earlier this year.

Maddow expressed worry for the country if someone with such… pic.twitter.com/if5mnm5Ush

— 🇺🇸 Larry 🇺🇸 (@LarryDJonesJr) June 11, 2024

Nicole Wallace claiming that if Donald Trump wins, he will end the free press and take Nicole Wallace off the air:
"Depending on what happens in November, this time next year, I might not be sitting here. There might not be a White House Correspondents Dinner or a free press.… pic.twitter.com/oBizlY5CfA

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) April 30, 2024

It is beyond parody that liberals and the mainstream media decry violent rhetoric when they are the primary promoters of it. It has been their stock and trade, their business model, for years. Biden has built two political campaigns around demonizing Trump and his supporters. 

The advertisement that Joe Biden pulled after the attempted assassination was not only based on a series of hoaxes, but was intended to communicate that Trump is an existential threat. 

This is not just the most despicable, dishonest campaign ad ever produced... It is also a blatant attempt to stir up hatred and incite outright violence between American citizens.

Also... "I'm Joe Biden and I approved this message." pic.twitter.com/XilXhnurcn

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) July 13, 2024

Republicans have to tone down the rhetoric? 

As usual, the Democrats are projecting. Trump's campaign is about Biden's incapacity and incompetence, not his being evil. Biden can't say the same.