The Real Extremism

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, it seems our nation is falling apart. Assassinations have claimed the lives of Charlie Kirk, Melissa and Mark Hortman, and UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. President Donald Trump has now survived three assassination attempts in the past two years, including the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past weekend. While political violence has long been part of our country’s history, this recent wave reflects a deeper deterioration of America’s core values. But the origins of this cultural and spiritual rot are not a mystery.

Since the early 2010s, America’s polarization has been furthered by individuals and interest groups profiting from emotional outrage. Groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was recently exposed for fraudulently siphoning money to the white supremacists it was publicly fighting, have engaged in malicious smear campaigns designed to make us suspicious of one another. This political stratification, deepened by online echo chambers, has spawned a new generation of violent radicals.

One of these radicals, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, checked into the Washington Hilton Hotel on Friday with the alleged intention of carrying out a mass assassination at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner the next day. The event has been held for over 100 years to celebrate America’s press freedom.

The sound of shots fired outside the banquet hall brought the celebration to an abrupt end. Journalists and attendees hid below tables as administration officials were quickly swept away. Erika Kirk, widow of the late Charlie Kirk, was seen leaving in tears. The shooter was quickly subdued by security officials and taken into custody.

As news broke, Americans around the country were likely struck with deja vu. This shooter is one among many who have attempted to silence political opponents with bullets in the past few years.

Cole Tomas Allen does not fit the American imagination of a mass shooter. He was not a bullied, anti-social teen or a crazed maniac, as far as we know. He blended into society as a well-educated teacher and video game developer who participated in No Kings protests and donated to Kamala Harris. His manifesto offered more insight into his motivations for carrying out the attack. 

“I apologize to everyone who was abused and/or murdered before this, to all those who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure,” he wrote to family members. “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Allen evidently feared being morally complicit in Donald Trump’s presidency and viewed everyone in attendance at the dinner as fair targets for being in his proximity.

The grandiose sense of self and catastrophic views expressed in his manifesto are eerily similar to the rhetoric repeated daily across social media platforms and news stations. For years, Americans across the political spectrum have been spoon-fed paranoid and hyperbolic narratives about their political opponents. On the Left, this was particularly aided by groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC gained prominence in the 2010s for its “Extremist Files,” which frequently equated conservative groups such as PragerU and figures such as Daily Wire host Matt Walsh with neo-Nazi and far-right organizations. Soon its practice of labeling moderate political and religious opinions as hateful, racist, and bigoted trickled into the language of mainstream media, college classrooms, and our homes. This language is often used to justify violence against conservatives.

According to the federal indictment released last week, the SPLC took things further than mischaracterizations. The group paid $3 million to leaders and organizers in the KKK, the American Nazi Party, and others between the years 2014 and 2023 without the consent of donors. The group now faces 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

When the Southern Poverty Law Center was unmasked last week as the Scooby-Doo villain hiding under the KKK hood, it called into question how much of our political reality has been falsely constructed or magnified for financial gain. The SPLC claimed the money was used to save lives through information gathering and infiltration, but Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”

As political rhetoric and violence continue to heat up, we must ask ourselves: Where does this end?

If we continue to fan the flames of political hysteria, America will not see another 250 years. This great experiment in peaceful democracy and diversity of thought could disappear because we’ve lost the understanding that our civic responsibilities secure our rights. When shots ring out, people harden their hearts as if they are at war. Journalists and politicians will likely continue to turn up the heat, but we must do something different. We must extend an olive branch of understanding to one another and love our neighbors. If we don’t, we risk losing it all.

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Maggie Anders is a video journalist and commentator at Young Voices. Her work explores international political movements, history, pop culture, economics, the cost-of-living crisis, and Gen Z social issues.