A Deadly Arc: Dallas, Orem, Butler—and a Permission Structure the Left Won’t Disown
By James Thompson.
The day before the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Federalist Press published my article titled A Global War on Faith: Anti-Religious Attacks Escalate in America and Beyond. Of course, Charlie was gunned down in front of thousands, including children, by a pro-trans, anti-Trump terrorist, while speaking about the importance of Jesus Christ.
During these intervening days, multiple Leftist assassins and would-be assassins have been through the courts in various phases of their legal cases. Now, before sunrise this morning, a gunman opened fire at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office off I-35 in Dallas, Texas. The FBI’s on-scene briefing made one thing unmistakable: rounds recovered at the scene were inscribed with messages “anti-ICE.”
The sniper died by suicide; multiple detainees were shot, with early accounts reflecting multiple fatalities. This wasn’t random mayhem. It was targeted—and it carried the Left movement’s calling card right there on the brass–a now-familiar pattern of terror. The political message is not subtle.
Sources familiar with the investigation into the Dallas immigration facility shooting identified Wednesday’s alleged attacker as Joshua Jahn, 29.
Joshua Jahn
The gunman killed one person and injured two others after opening fire on ICE facility from a nearby building before taking his own life, police say.
Jahn struck three detainees in an unmarked transport van before killing himself around 7 a.m., according to the sources. He was found dead with a rifle on a nearby rooftop.
Not isolated: a string of ideologically aligned attacks and plots
Many amateur Leftist terrorists have responded to rhetoric from their leaders, ginning up violence with taunts that these “fascists,” Nazis,” and “threats to democracy” must be stopped, at ANY cost. Oh–here’s another: “86 47.” Here are just a few high profile cases:
- Assassination of Charlie Kirk (Orem, Utah, Sept. 10). Prosecutors and reporters have detailed ideological markers, including anti-fascist and pro-trans slogans on cartridges. The reaction class split instantly: many on the Left deflected, minimized, or tried to reassign blame. Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily suspended for purposefully redirecting blame of the assassin to conservatives, while every bit of evidence, including the shooter’s own admissions, indicated he was a Leftist, anti-Trump, pro-trans activist.
- Sacramento ABC10 office shooting (Sept. 19). A 64-year-old Democratic party activist and lobbyist fired into a TV station’s lobby; a note recovered by authorities pointed to Leftist, anti-Trump political grievance. This erupted amid the furor over ABC’s brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after his on-air remarks about the Kirk murder.
- Attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh (Bethesda, 2022)—now at sentencing. The DOJ is seeking roughly 30 years; the Trans defendant admitted traveling to kill Kavanaugh “to alter the constitutional order.” That’s the rhetoric of revolutionary justice turned into a plan.
- UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (NYC, Dec. 2024). A liberal New York judge just tossed two state terrorism counts, but left the murder case intact. Filings describe a Leftist ideological grievance against the health-insurance system.
- 2017 GOP Congressional baseball practice (Alexandria). James Hodgkinson’s ambush grievously wounded Steve Scalise and others. A recent House Intel review faulted early FBI framing and reaffirmed the obvious: politically targeted against Republicans. House Intelligence Committee+1
“Do Trump next”: the two 2024 attempts
- Butler, Pennsylvania (July 13, 2024). Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed President Trump’s ear with a rifle round, killed firefighter Corey Comperatore, and critically wounded David Dutch and James Copenhaver, before being killed by counter-snipers. The Secret Service and DHS reports cement the timeline and the names.
- West Palm Beach golf course (Sept. 2024). Ryan Routh was just convicted on all counts for an attempted assassination plot; jurors heard about burn phones, surveillance, and an explicitly political motive.
The “young trans shooters” the media memory-holes when it’s inconvenient. We’re still waiting to see the Tranifestos.
- Nashville’s Covenant School (Mar. 27, 2023). A shooter who identified as transgender killed three 9-year-old children and three adults at a Christian school; police records and the city’s investigative summary confirm planning, targeting, and the identity details that so many pundits tried to bury.
- STEM School Highlands Ranch, CO (May 7, 2019). One perpetrator, Alec (Maya) McKinney, identified as transgender; Kendrick Castillo was killed, eight others were injured. Court records and mainstream coverage document both the identity facts and the casualty count. CBS News+1
The blame game—and why it matters
A grim ritual now follows each attack: left-leaning celebrities, commentators, and even electeds reach for narratives that shift responsibility away from their own movement’s dehumanizing rhetoric. We watched it play out after Kirk’s killing—and again this week around Kimmel’s attempted walk-back. Meanwhile, outlets like Reuters and YouGov point to a troubling openness to “sometimes justified” political violence among the very liberal and younger cohorts, even as majorities still reject it outright. That’s a permission structure, not a repudiation.
From Dallas to Orem, from the Butler rally to the Florida golf course, from a TV lobby in Sacramento to a Supreme Court justice’s front yard, the story repeats: Leftist activists and influencers brand conservatives as “fascists” and “illegitimate,” and a subset of true believers takes the next step; assassination. Then, when the blood dries, too many voices on the Left default to euphemism, deflection—or a false counter-accusation while millions of Leftists cheer the violence on social media.
Losing elections because they have no workable solutions does not equate to ‘the winning side are fascists and Nazis, and must be stopped at any cost.’ Well over half of the Left responds that violence is justified because it is “critical” to stop those who won the elections. No cause justifies violence against political opponents. This behavior inevitably and invariably MUST lead to conservatives taking up arms to defend themselves, and our constitutional republic. It must stop immediately, or there WILL be an outpouring of violence, which will erupt into civil war. If Democratic and progressive leaders believe they can continue to gin up the mentally unstable members of their base to commit political violence, without repercussions, they are stupidly incorrect. They must condemn their own side’s dehumanizing language with the same fire they demand of everyone else—and stop excusing and urging what’s happening.
James Thompson is an author and ghostwriter, and a political analyst.
Sponsored by BasicInfo123 — simple bite-sized guides for life, money, civics, and more—because some stuff school just didn’t cover.
Leave a Reply