Ah, I remember the good ol' days when politicians encouraged young people to get involved.
Sure, they wanted kids on their side of the aisle, but at least they pretended that citizen participation in the political arena was good in itself. The idea was simple: despite our differences, political participation in a Republican form of government was the best way human beings have found to resolve differences without resorting to violence.
We all have an interest in the system itself working, so even when we disagree with people, having them participate in the process is the best way to resolve differences, because the alternative is violence.
It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country.
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 17, 2026
Those days are long gone. Democrats have embraced violence as a means of getting their way, cheering on rioters, or even being primary organizers of political violence in our streets. Luigi Mangione gets cheers. ICE rioters are organized with the help of top politicians. Even governors get in on the game, holding press conferences to call riots and assaults on law enforcement officers legitimate resistance and how democracy is supposed to work.
And as for encouraging the young to get involved in politics? Well, it depends. If you are on their side, they will hand you a mask, a Molotov cocktail, and a truncheon to fight in the streets. If you are on the other side? They will pledge to ruin your life.
It's mildly remarkable, if no longer shocking, that CIA Democrat Elissa Slotkin is willing to speak in front of a crowd of her fellow transnationalists and explicitly endorse ruining the lives of even young political activists. After all, she was speaking to a friendly crowd at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, where David Axelrod leads discussions with radical politicians and plots to put a radical socialist in the White House.
This is a school that recruits terrorists — actual participants in a conspiracy to murder people — to teach the next generation of students. Abdul El-Sayed's sister, who is a big backer of political violence and a fan of the Muslim Brotherhood, is a teacher there. Bill Ayers moved from being a murderous terrorist to Barack Obama's best bud there.
So why should we be surprised that a CIA color revolution advocate would lay out her plan to ruin the lives of college grads wanting to get into Republican politics? The CIA Democrats are radical-adjacent. See: Abigail Spanberger.
We shouldn't be surprised she thinks that way. The only surprising thing is that she said it out loud. After all, it is one of the most repulsive things an actual member of the United States Senate can say, and in an earlier era it would have been said only behind closed doors, and even then only by the most cynical and evil politicians in the country.
“I want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity. I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message."
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 18, 2026
“I want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity. I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message."
These are the sort of people who show up as villains in TV series. Certainly not the sort of people whose constituents are thrilled to have sponsored their kid to go to West Point or Annapolis.
No doubt Slotkin is proud of her willingness to destroy kids who want to participate in American politics. She doesn't see politics as a process; she sees seizing power as the only goal that matters. And Slotkin is very clear that her goal is to destroy current Republicans in order to deter future ones.
“That deterrence message” is all too familiar to many Republicans. After January 6th, the Biden Administration used the riot to unleash a scorched-earth campaign against Trump supporters and groups.
In an interview with CBS News, Justice Department official Michael Sherwin explained that they wanted to send a message with the harsh treatment of Trump supporters.
He explained that “our office wanted to ensure that there was shock and awe … it worked because we saw through media posts that people were afraid to come back to D.C. because they’re, like, ‘If we go there, we’re gonna get charged.’ … We wanted to take out those individuals that essentially were thumbing their noses at the public for what they did.”
Of course, if Sherwin and his colleagues hoped to “Trump-proof” the nation, they failed in spectacular fashion.
However, that did not stop Jack Smith, who used his position as Special Counsel to seize the telephone records of Republican members of Congress while ordering carriers not to tell the members (some of whom were investigating Smith). We also learned recently that Smith collected information on over 600,000 Trump supporters and even tracked who bought MAGA hats.
Slotkin has been open about her desire to start a series of virtual show trials featuring Trump supporters to send a message to others. In a September 30 speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Slotkin compared the planned investigation to cleaning up Europe with what the Poles called “the Iron Broom”: “The goal here is to have a list of signature cases that go after some of the most obvious and harmful abuses of taxpayer dollars.”
To her audience’s delight, she dangled possible 20-year sentences for figures ranging from the former CIA officer named Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to even U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
The whole point of Republican government is finding a way to settle differences by means short of violence. For all the talk of government being a warm, fuzzy parental figure, at base politics is about using force to get your way. The goal of constitutional government is to minimize the use of force and maximize the likelihood of finding solutions everybody can live with.
Republican forms of government are the result of thousands of years of finding ways short of destroying people in order to resolve conflicts. We have created constitutions, laws, checks and balances, and a system that encourages people to believe their views will be heard.
Slotkin? Her message is clear: comply, or else we will destroy you. It is a totalitarian vision, and one that gets applause in elite circles these days.
Anyone who still doubts that lawfare will only get worse needs to listen to Elissa Slotkin. She sounds like a Soviet party apparatchik calmly explaining how she will use political prosecutions to terrorize political opponents and intimidate ordinary people away from participating in politics altogether. Except a Soviet apparatchik probably wouldn't have talked about it so openly. But Slotkin couldn't care less. The entire lawfare machine has become so emboldened by the total lack of accountability that they no longer bother hiding their plans.
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) October 18, 2026
It's clear that the modern Democrat Party doesn't believe in Republican governance. They believe in seizing power and holding on to it. They see no barriers and certainly don't believe in "norms" and rules, whatever they say.
Is this what a Senator should be? Obviously not. But this is the party of Abdul El-Sayed and Hasan Piker, of Bill Ayers and Abigail Spanberger. Of Luigi Mangione and Jay Jones.
This is not your father's Democrat Party.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.
Help us continue to shine a light on the socialist takeover by joining HotAir VIP. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.