I wanted to add a brief note to Noah’s fine piece about Gavin Newsom, where he pleads with Democrats to “have some self-respect” and abjure overheated political rhetoric. (Apparently Newsom is out there telling Americans that he sincerely believes the 2028 election will be canceled. Well why bother running then, Gavin?) The reason the story — which I was unaware of; Newsom made his statement on Colbert’s Late Show last night while I was busy ignoring Jimmy Kimmel’s return to ABC — caught my eye is because it dovetails rather unfortunately with my own from this afternoon, about the increasing frequency of acts of spectacular public violence from people poisoned by lives spent stewing in a cesspool of online rhetoric and fueled by left-coded causes.

I think you know where my point is going here, so before I get there I want to say something further about the concept of “stochastic terrorism,” which I addressed in my earlier piece: I don’t really believe in it as a concept. I don’t think madmen are motivated to commit heinous acts by the speech of any one person or politician, and when the Nina Jankowiczes of the world first floated the concept of “stochastic terrorism” back during the Biden administration, it was obvious that this was merely another cynical theoretical cudgel crafted by the academy to suppress right-wing speech.

But I absolutely do believe that the current spate of political violence we are seeing is influenced by the apocalyptic rhetoric used in the media and by Democratic politicians about Trump. The long-running demonization of opponents of transgender ideology has borne fruit. The demonization of ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol by countless progressive commentators and politicians has borne fruit. What else is coming? I don’t know, but if you’re not terrified about what it might be, you simply have not been paying attention to how quickly things are deteriorating.

When Gavin Newsom goes on Colbert’s Late Show to announce the impending end of democracy in America, he probably thinks of it as the sort of pandering rhetoric necessary to secure the affections of progressives and the attention of the news media in his race for the 2028 nomination. I see it as throwing accelerant onto a fire that has already begun to spread beyond containment.