CORRECTING THE RECORD: The Palisades Fire Was Yet Another Example of Leftist Political Violence

Democrats’ heated rhetoric may have contributed to the Palisades Fire—but not by warming the global climate.

When the Los Angeles-area fire burned 23,707 acres, destroyed 6,833 structures, and killed 12 people, those on the left rushed to blame it on man-made climate change. Only later did we learn that the human causation was far more direct.

Yes, the Palisades Fire, like the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the attempts on President Donald Trump’s life, and the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, is yet another example of leftist political violence.

A new court filing reveals the mindset of Jonathan Rinderknecht, the 20-year-old man charged with setting the fire. Let’s just say he wasn’t a member of the Proud Boys.

Alleged Arsonist’s Motivations

Rinderknecht allegedly set the fire in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, before calling 911 later that evening. Firefighters responded and appeared to have addressed it, but the fire persisted. Drought, extreme winds, and poor forest management enabled the blaze to spread after the initial response.

Rinderknecht reportedly used the ChatGPT AI system as “a confidant and diary.” He asked ChatGPT “to generate and then modify images of a ‘burning forest’ next to ‘a bunch of people running away.’”

The defendant’s Uber passengers described him “as angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism.”

It seems the alleged arsonist was indeed inspired by Mangione, who allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson because he hated the way the U.S. health care industry works. Many on the left celebrated Mangione as a “modern-day Robin Hood,” and the alleged arsonist appears to be one of them.

Investigators asked Rinderknecht on Jan. 24, 2025, why someone might commit arson in Pacific Palisades. He said someone would do so “out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them’ and compared such an act of ‘desperation’ to the murder for which Mangione was charged.”

In the weeks and hours leading up to the fire, Rinderknecht “fixated on Luigi Mangione.” He searched the internet for Mangione-related news, using search terms such as “free Luigi Mangione,” “lets take down all the billionaires,” and “reddit lets kill all the billionaires.”

Prosecutors also note that the alleged arsonist “grew up in a devoutly religious household” and was “in frequent conflict with his parents as a result.” In August 2024, he burned a Bible and described the act to ChatGPT as “necessary,” “liberating,” and “amazing.”

Leftist Political Violence

It’s practically a truism at this point to note the uptick in leftist political violence. Lest you forget, dear reader, we’ve seen threats to the lives of Supreme Court justices, the burning of Teslas in protest of Elon Musk, assassination attempts on Trump, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and transgender shooters targeting churches and schools—and that’s all just since March 2023. The first two months of this year witnessed multiple serious threats against Trump and key administration officials.

Meanwhile, leftist podcaster Hasan Piker—in an interview with The New York Times—suggested that Thompson deserved to die because he “was engaging in a tremendous amount of social murder,” by running a health care company. Last year, Virginia elected Jay Jones as attorney general, despite his previous comments wishing death on the children of his political opponents in order to make them “move on policy.” Jones apologized for his text messages, but only after they became public.

A September YouGov poll asked Americans, “Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals?” Most respondents (72%) chose the option, “No, violence is never justified,” but those who selected “Yes, violence can sometimes be justified” overwhelmingly skewed to the left.

About 25% of respondents who described themselves as “very liberal” said violence can be justified, compared to only 3% of those who identified as “very conservative.” Another 17% of those who said they are “liberal” agreed, while only 6% of conservatives did so. Self-described moderates wound up in the middle, with 9% saying violence can be justified. (YouGov surveyed 2,646 U.S. adults online from Sept. 10 to Sept. 12, and the margin of error is between 2.5% and 3%.)

Hiding the Truth

Yet the legacy media seems bent on hiding this truth.

NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon recently analyzed the data from the University of Cincinnati’s Prosecution Project—one of the legacy media’s favorite sources for claiming that most political violence comes from “the Right”—and found glaring omissions when it came to leftist political violence.

The Prosecution Project does not mention Trump assassination attempts, nor the successful targeting of Kirk. It also omits: the man who allegedly murdered the Jewish Embassy couple in Washington, D.C., last May; violence from the George Floyd riots in 2020; and threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Meanwhile, it includes as examples of right-wing political violence members of the Aryan Brotherhood charged in connection with meth dealing. It also mentions people who vandalized LGBTQ+ crosswalks and those who blocked access to abortion centers.

Americans aren’t blind. We know our country has a leftist political violence problem, but it seems we have to fight to set the record straight.

Let’s not “both-sides” this debate. The American people need to demand answers from Democrats on how they will dial down the rhetoric.