Political violence is (D)ifferent when Leftists do it (03-20-2025--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] Recent death threats against U.S. Senator Tom Tillis have continued to grow, with graphic phone calls being released by his staff in a YouTube video as evidence. This is the report from Teresa Opeka at the Carolina Journal, carolinajournal.com.

[00:00:53] The threats reflect an unsettling trend in America's civil society happening from the White House to local school boards. There is a reason for this, by the way. A woman can be heard saying that the joy of her week, that's a quote from this woman who called, left a message.

[00:01:14] She said it was the joy of her week when she heard other phone calls that were made, including a man threatening to bash Tillis's head with an axe handle and all the comments were, quote, giving her life. So she lives to torment with violent threats. That's what, that's her reason for living. It's giving her life. It's making her happy.

[00:01:42] Right. There is a psychological condition. That this describes. In an expletive laced call, a man said that he, quote, might drive to North Carolina and shoot Tillis dead in the streets like the dog he is, describing how he hoped horrible things would happen to his wife and children in front of him. Still another call made by the same man said, you're all going to die.

[00:02:07] Tom's going to die with talk of his office being blown up with his staff inside and how all patriotic Americans would be clapping and thankful that it happened. The Charlotte Observer posted a column by the editorial board. And according to the report at Carolina Journal, the search engine title pops up as, quote, threats against Tillis are wrong.

[00:02:36] But let me just stop you right there, McClatchy. OK, just you could have just just put a period. Threats against Tillis are wrong, period. That's it. That's all you need to say. That's the end of the freaking column, guys. There's nothing else to it. There's no but voters are scared to stop conflating your neuroticism with violent threats, with physical violence.

[00:03:04] You being afraid of everything up to end, including your shadow, does not give anybody license to make violent threats, let alone carry them out. Now, when you go to the Charlotte Observer page now. The headline reads death threats against Tom Tillis are shameful. We hope he responds in the right way. In the right way.

[00:03:30] See, see, Senator Tillis, if you hadn't been wearing that skirt, it was really short. You know, you can't just say it's wrong. This is the thing about the left. There's always some sort of equivocation. There's always some sort of dismissiveness or whataboutism. Always. I'm not saying he should have threatened him, but I understand. Right?

[00:04:00] That's what you're doing. That's what you're saying. And the people that read your rag are getting the same message that I'm getting, which is lip service, lip service. Violence is bad, okay? But I understand why you might be feeling so sad and might be driven to do something like that. Let's try to keep in mind that these are people that are really, really scared.

[00:04:29] On March 6th, local Democrat Party groups and the Indivisible, you're going to hear their name a couple times today, Indivisible, Guilford County chapter, organized a protest at Tillis' Greensboro office. So this would have been like two weeks ago. Indivisible, at the national level, was formed in response to Trump's 2016 election victory.

[00:04:56] So this is the resistance, right? Where they believe violence is a viable option. They do. Now, some may say, oh, I don't think there should be violence. But they do. That's why you get the whataboutism. That's why you get the dismissiveness of the threats. That's why you have these headlines. It's that they actually do kind of sort of think violence is okay in some circumstances.

[00:05:23] To quote somebody after the October 7th massacre in Israel, what did you think decolonialization meant? This is at the core of the philosophy, folks. Recognize where we are. Recognize who these people are. And if you are unwilling to simply state they are wrong, period. End of story. No whataboutisms. No I understandisms.

[00:05:52] No conflation with something else. It is a simple thing. You know, like how you guys wrote all of those pieces about January 6th? And the pieces were straightforward. The January 6th rioters were wrong. Violence is never acceptable. Period. Full stop. End of story. That was all you had to say about that. You didn't talk about, you know, people in the crowd feeling anxious, feeling that their votes were stolen, feeling that the election was stolen. You didn't care about any of the motivation.

[00:06:20] All you cared about was the end result. The action. That's what is required of you now, is to treat this the same way you treated the J6. That's it. And you can't do it. This is Democrat privilege, by the way. Republicans don't get to say this. And by the way, here's another angle of the privilege, which is that there is no calls for disavowal. There's no calls to defend, right?

[00:06:48] The game of D&D that the media loves to play with Republicans on J6, for example, throwing that in every Republican and conservative's face for the last five years, demanding that they defend or disavow everything and then the pardons and everything else. Not caring about any of the particulars of any of the cases. They don't care. They want to play D&D against you. They will not play it against Democrats. That's Democrat privilege as well.

[00:07:17] They never have to defend or disavow this kind of violence. And on the rare occasion when they are called to speak about the topic, they give you this kind of crap. This whataboutism. This I'm not saying it's right, but I understand. Legislators in Raleigh are also taking notice of the threats and saying that it is happening to local public servants too,

[00:07:45] threatening state-level politicians like lawmakers, judges, even the governor. It's already a felony under state law, but a new bill would raise the classification. It's called House Bill 95, and it's on the calendar for Wednesday. So this was a story that ran the 18th. So this would have been yesterday. It was calendared for yesterday. And it would raise the threatening of local politicians like city council members or school board members.

[00:08:14] It would raise it from a misdemeanor up to a felony. And then Teresa Opeca's report at the very end talks about a study that was done by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. And they put out a report over the summer that shows threats against public officials are at an all-time high.

[00:08:39] So if you go back a decade and you look at a three-year window from 2013 to 2016, there was an average across America of about 38 threats per year. 38 over that three-year span. In the next three or four-year span, it almost doubled up to 62 a year. In 2023, it went to 82 a year. And last year, it was at 108 per year.

[00:09:11] There is a reason this is happening. On CNN, Scott Jennings, who's like the only Republican that they have given a key fob to to gain access into their building, I think. No, Liz Cheney doesn't count. No, Adam Kensinger doesn't count either. Scott Jennings got into a heated argument with Neera Tanden. Does that name ring a bell? Neera Tanden?

[00:09:39] This is Hillary Clinton's BFF. She's from the Center for American Progress, leftist organization. Joe Biden tried to put her into his administration, but thank God Joe Manchin blocked her appointment. She is a partisan hack. And you will hear exactly what it is that I'm talking about with this whataboutism and this dismissiveness and this conflation with J6. You're going to hear it from her. And Jennings loses it. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events.

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[00:11:02] Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Let's jump over to the phones and talk with Marty real quick. Hey, Marty, what's going on? Hi. Hi, Pete. How you doing? Good. I got a hypothetical question and it's going to sound a little weird.

[00:11:20] But if I know the progression of how the Democrats and others are trying to become more and more violent and I don't really see any words or any kind of ideology can be put upon them that would change their minds. And, you know, just hypothetically, I know it probably couldn't happen or wouldn't happen.

[00:11:42] But if you could have, say, like in 1860, you'd have a civil war that would change the Democrat Party completely, say, for 100 years, would it be worth it? I don't think war is ever worth it. I don't know if it's I don't know how avoidable it might be, though.

[00:12:00] So you're going to want to stay tuned for the next two hours because I'm going to be going into a theory that was put forward by William Strauss and Neil Howe on the four turnings of how all of our country and much of the Anglo history follows a cyclical pattern.

[00:12:23] And we are what's we are in what they refer to as the fourth turning, which is the crisis phase of the 80 to 100 year cycle. And the crisis phase has some sort of massive conflict, either from external or internal forces. You could almost feel it in the air, Pete. It's not going to end well. I don't think something major is going to have to take place. There's no way around it. I just don't see hearts changing at this point and it's getting worse.

[00:12:54] And there's always a boiling point. And then, you know, the pot somewhat explodes. Right. And I think we're headed there probably sooner than we think. Yeah, that's the that is the fear. I appreciate the call, Marty. Stay tuned for the because like this is that this is the focus of the of the program is the fourth turning, because the stuff that we are seeing right now, I keep saying it. We are seeing it for a reason. There is a reason this is happening.

[00:13:21] I, I, I, I lean towards believing. Let me just say it that way. Here is Scott Jennings and Neera Tanden on CNN. Doubtful it's Republicans attacking Tesla dealerships around the country. It's pretty wild, actually. The other night, Donald Trump said these are domestic terrorists. Everybody laughed about it and scoffed at it. That video looks like terrorism to me. I mean, it's obviously an organized, coordinated effort.

[00:13:49] However, people are are communicating with each other to do this to people around the country who chose to buy a Tesla at some point in the past. Many of whom I'm sure are Democrats who bought them in the first place. All because their entire political worldview is ruled by their emotions. And that's the American left right now.

[00:14:09] It is one angry mob after another willing to take things into their own hands up to and including keying, firebombing and otherwise vandalizing cars and car dealerships and charging stations. It's outrageous. It is terrorism. People ought to be put in jail and left there for a very long time and be taught a lesson. So when they do it to a Tesla dealership, it's really bad. But when they do it to the halls of Congress, we should pardon them. Is that your position? No, I've never.

[00:14:37] Are you okay with each other's statements? I know you haven't been around for a while, so let me educate you about my position about January 6th. I'm so sorry. Let me educate you. You don't need to pay your attention. You don't need to be condescending to me. So let me educate you about my position. You want to attack me? Let me finish it. Let me finish it. Let me finish it. Let's do this January 6th and then you're it. I'm sorry you're getting emotional. Yeah, I'm sorry you're a condescending person who hasn't been paying attention to what I do. Stop, guys. So here's the issue. I didn't support what happened on January 6th and was one of the first Republicans to call it out.

[00:15:07] I don't support the pardons. I have repeatedly, just like my friend Ashley here, said that no violence in our political system is acceptable. But this right here, what's going on with a guy who helps our country, who runs successful companies, who doesn't have to be doing this, and now one of his companies is under systematic terroristic threat and violence all over the country, and people seem to be laughing about it or fine with it? It's outrageous. I've sat at this table and had people say, we should cut Elon Musk from the government totally.

[00:15:37] He rescued our astronauts today. Is that what we want? The treatment of this guy is outrageous. These people who are doing this need to be found, put in jail, and made an example of, that's my point. Anyone who commits violence against Tesla or Congress or anyone else should be put in jail a thousand percent. That does not stifle dissent or opposition from Elon Musk. Give it a little lip service. Give it a little both sides. Go ahead. No, no. Okay. We're so both sides here. I'm so sorry.

[00:16:06] I'm so sorry to say that people are legitimately upset. Somebody dropped a cup. They were legitimately upset at Elon Musk. And they're doing it on their own. But there is no reason to have violence in the country. But I just wish all of us would support criticism of or would support punishing people who are violent wherever they are. All right. So did you hear what she just did there? All right. She did the, I'm not saying violence is okay, but I'm morally superior to you.

[00:16:36] Charles Cook from National Review was on the Megyn Kelly Show podcast the other night. He had a great response to this exchange. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion.

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[00:17:52] Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. So I mentioned Charles Cook, Charles C.W. Cook. He's a writer for National Review. He is an American citizen by choice. He came here and became naturalized as a citizen probably about a decade ago. And a fantastic writer. He was on the Megyn Kelly show the other day.

[00:18:19] She played that clip that I just played for you of Scott Jennings arguing with Neera Tanden. And Neera Tanden, this leftist hack, could not simply say, as Charlie Cook says, speaking just as a citizen of a free republic, that it's never acceptable to firebomb a car dealership because you don't like the owner. That is all that is required of you. That's it.

[00:18:47] Just say, no, you should not firebomb car dealerships because you disagree with the owner. But no, she had to play whataboutism on January 6th. Right. And then proclaim some moral superior position that she occupies because she supports free speech and she supports criticism. I think it's not right to be doing the violence, but I'm for free speech.

[00:19:17] And I think we should all support criticism and such. And here's Charlie Cook. At the root of modern American progressivism is the suspicion at best and the conviction at worst that violence is sometimes justified, that riots are necessary, and that all these power dynamics and hierarchies of grievances that we've been treated to for years

[00:19:43] justify what we see on the streets often and here at car dealerships. It's absolutely astonishing to me. Yeah. That there is this suspicion or admission or acknowledgement or acceptance that sometimes this kind of violence is okay for us to do against you guys, ever okay for you to do against me, obviously. But, you know, if you're not doing what I demand you do,

[00:20:11] well then, I mean, you kind of have it coming, right? I mean, I'm not going to do what you tell me you want me to do. I'm just going to resist. And that's the morally superior thing to do. But because you're a Nazi, a fascist, literally Hitler and Stalin and Mao all rolled into one, I don't have to listen to you and your directives, even though you may have won the election, even though you may control the halls of Congress and can write laws and such.

[00:20:40] I don't have to listen to you. And if you try to tell me to do stuff that I don't want to do, then I'm going to burn down your house. Right? Like that's okay. For me, it's different for me than it is for you. Here's a Pete tweet from Cindy. Dude, you nailed it. These media outlets are doing their psychological conditioning to accept violence as a legitimate response to things you disagree with.

[00:21:10] We need to call them out every day, all day for this nonsense. All right. Let me go over and talk with Mark real quick. Hello, Mark. Welcome to the show. Hey, how you doing? Hey, I'm okay. What's up? I need somebody. I don't care if it's the CIA, FBI, chief of police. I need somebody to come on your show and tell everybody how come these people aren't locked up.

[00:21:37] If I tell you I'm going to come up there and blow your conquistador off, I'm going to jail for communicating a threat. How are these people getting away with this and they're not locked up? I'm trying to figure this one out. You have to have the will to prosecute, to investigate and then to prosecute. You have to have the will to do that. And there are too many people that do not.

[00:22:03] There are people in law enforcement and in the judicial system, in these prosecutors' offices, they do not have the will to do that. They don't want to. They need to go. I agree. Yeah, I agree. I agree. It's like this thing going on with Tesla. It's going on in 11 states that they're messing with these dealerships. Now, that means this is organized crime. This is organized. You know, it sounds like George Soros to me. Well, that.

[00:22:33] It's bought and paid for. Yeah, so there's yeah there. I mean, you have a couple of things going on at once. You obviously have the actors that are doing it right. The attackers. You've got them. If they do have any kind of financial backing or something. Yes, you may have some of that money involved. But then you also have this this wink and a nod egging on these types of actions.

[00:22:55] And it's coming from all sectors of the left, from Hollywood, media, the CNN talking heads. It's coming from all of these different, quote, institutions. And it's letting them know that, oh, you shouldn't do that. But we understand why you're doing it. That's the problem. Mark, I appreciate the call, sir. And yeah, I mean, maybe racketeering charges. Rico. Go after people with Rico. Look, here's another example. Here is to Mark's point about the Tesla dealerships getting attacked.

[00:23:25] This is from The Daily Show. I don't know who this new host is. Jim, they're taking to the streets or the parking lots. Tonight, the FBI and ATF now investigating multiple cases of possible. Listen to the crowd. Targeting Teslas and Cybertrucks. This dramatic video shows multiple cars in flames. Police say the attacker used Molotov cocktails. It's the latest in more than a dozen instances of arson and vandalism targeting Tesla. The same suspect shot more Teslas with a gun.

[00:23:55] Tesla Cybertrucks were set on fire in Kansas City. And earlier this month, shots fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon. Cybertrucks on fire in Seattle. Wow. You guys like petty acts of domestic terrorism, huh? That's the audience at The Daily Show, a liberal talk show. Right? They're cheering on this kind of violence. Jimmy Kimmel. Last night.

[00:24:21] Even beyond incidents of arson, someone lit a bunch of Teslas on fire. And here's the thing. I get that people are upset. Burning a car might not be great for the environment. I don't think that's what they had in mind when they invented the electric car. In Las Vegas yesterday, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at a Tesla service center. At least five Teslas blew up. One from the Molotov and four because that's just what Teslas do sometimes. And no one should be setting fires. You could kill somebody. You could hurt somebody.

[00:24:51] Elon Musk might not care about other people. But decent Americans should. The world's richest man, Iken, has been trying to drum up sympathy for himself lately. His sales are down. His stock is down. Last night, he was somber as he went through this with Sean Hannity. Tesla is a peaceful company. We've never done anything awful. I've never done anything awful. I've only done productive things. So I think we just have a deranged...

[00:25:20] There's some kind of mental illness thing going on here because this doesn't make any sense. Well, let me see if I can explain it for you. When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad. It's just, you know, my God. I mean, there you go. Poor guy. You do one, maybe two Nazi salutes. Everybody gets all bent out of shape. There you go. Right? That's the wink. That's the nod.

[00:25:49] It's okay. It's all right. I'm not saying we should burn all their stuff down. But I understand. That's what the left is doing right now. This is not going to end well, people. All right. So spring is here. A time of renewal and celebrations. You got graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and the special days for mom and dad. Your family's making memories that are going to last a lifetime. But let me ask you.

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[00:27:16] It's said when the Bible, the USA flag, and Tesla define your party affiliation. Now, so yeah, I don't really know what to make of the second part of that. But the first part, that is true. The Tesla owners, like, I would guess most of those owners, well, I don't know. I don't know what their political affiliations are. I don't know what any car dealerships affiliations are. It doesn't matter to me.

[00:27:42] But if you're selling electric vehicles, I would imagine the first ones through the door there would be people that were probably more on the left than the right. Just like the Tesla buyers. Right? We're probably more on the left than the right. Now, of course, everything is flipping. And you get all these, you know, Trump supporters and Elon supporters that are like, We're going to go buy electric vehicles. And these are people that never would buy them. I mean, then you saw, what was this, Mark Kelly?

[00:28:12] The senator from Arizona. And he's like, I traded in my Tesla for a Chevy Suburban. So now you got the lefties that are all going and buying gas guzzlers. Proving, obviously, that the whole climate change thing, they didn't really believe it. It's not one of their core principles. As we knew, as we suspected at the very least, that this was all virtue signaling. It was moral preening.

[00:28:41] And now they're abandoning the electric vehicles for gas guzzlers. You know, I guess they're going to penalize Gaia Earth for Elon Musk hatred. I don't know. But I am usually very specific when I talk about leftists. They are not the same as liberals. Leftists are a different category. I said this quote yesterday. I will say it again.

[00:29:09] And I will say it probably many, many times before I die. Which is Dennis Prager's quote, conservatives vote their principles. Leftists vote their principles. Liberals do not. Liberals vote for the leftists, even though their principles don't always really align very well with leftists.

[00:29:31] But they do that because they don't want to admit that they are actually closer to conservatives on a lot of these issues than they are to the leftists. Right? The new Democrats, remember them? Main Street Democrats, Blue Dog Democrats, whatever you want to call them. Those are the more liberal Democrats. Those are liberal Democrats. Leftists are the kinds that are throwing Molotov cocktails into Tesla dealerships.

[00:30:01] That's the difference. And until the left, the Democrat Party, until they get their own house in order for this stuff, this will continue. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendorshow.com.

[00:30:28] Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.