Assassination attempts ON THE RISE around the world – and a target in the United States COULD BE NEXT
Political assassination attempts are on the rise around the world – and a prominent political figure in the United States could be targeted next.
The most recent prominent assassination attempt occurred in South Korea on Jan. 2, when opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea was stabbed in the neck by an assailant seemingly motivated by a corruption scandal surrounding Lee.
Lee’s stabbing is the latest in a growing line of assassination attempts against political leaders. Some of these have unfortunately been successful.
In August 2023, Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist and an anti-crime and anti-corruption campaigner, was assassinated by Colombian hitmen hired by local drug cartels. In September 2022, a man sporting Nazi tattoos tried to shoot a pistol at Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner only for his gun to jam.
In June 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed by a lone gunman with a homemade firearm due to the leader’s ties to a controversial religious group. A year later, current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was himself targeted by another would-be assassin who threw a pipe bomb at him.
American politicians could be targeted by would-be assassins next
Thankfully, political leaders in the U.S. have avoided successful high-profile assassinations. But this does not mean American leaders have not been targeted.
In 2022 alone, serious plots were uncovered targeting former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In both cases, the would-be assassins even made it all the way to the homes of their targets.
As political divisions and antagonistic rhetoric by certain groups increase, the possibility of political violence targeting some of the most prominent political figures in the U.S. is only going to increase.
President Joe Biden has already been targeted. Last year, a 19-year-old man from St. Louis drove a rented truck into a barrier that separated the White House grounds from the public. During interrogation, the man was found to have a Nazi flag in his truck, an admiration for the Third Reich and confessed his intention to “kill the president” and “seize power.”
Perhaps just as worrying is if a would-be assassin targets his main political opponent: Former President Donald Trump.
During his presidency, at least four serious attempts to kill the president were uncovered. Two of these, in 2018 and 2020, were attempts by individuals to mail Trump letters laced with the biotoxin ricin. Another, in 2017, came in the form of an individual who was plotting to flip Trump’s presidential limousine with a stolen forklift.
The most serious case, in November 2017, involved operatives of the Islamic State who plotted to assassinate Trump while he was visiting Manila, Philippines. The individuals who wanted to “ambush” the president were lying in wait just blocks away from the hotel where Trump was going to stay. The plot was uncovered and stopped by Secret Service agents just minutes before Air Force One landed in the country.
As the election draws nearer and Trump’s political opponents become even more desperate to avoid a second Trump presidency, they may feel like they have no choice but to attempt to kill him. Fortunately, political figures in the U.S. are very aware of these dark possibilities and are already spending greater resources on their protection.
Jacob Ware, a research fellow on domestic terrorism and counterterrorism at the think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, suggests that parallel to increased security efforts, politicians should continue to promote the strength of the “democratic order.”
“Assassinations are typically chosen by ‘accelerationist’ extremists who are particularly desperate to change the course of history, and should also, therefore, be interpreted precisely as a reflection of the strength of … [the] democratic order,” said Ware. “The most critical counterterrorism measure, then, is to continue reinforcing democratic institutions, including free elections and the free press, that isolate extremism to the fringes of society.”
Watch this episode of “Man in America” as host Seth Holehouse invites author and investigative journalist Jack Roth over to discuss Trump’s surging popularity and how the Deep State may resort to assassination to stop him from taking back the presidency.
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