The leftist next door

As more information becomes available, we learn that Rene Boucher, the man who assaulted and seriously injured Rand Paul, is (as John suggested) a rabidly anti-Trump leftist. According to this report from PJ Media, Boucher’s activity on social media consists to a considerable degree of reposting anti-Trump memes and stories and sharing posts from Bernie Sanders.

However, Boucher wasn’t solely a copycat. He did offer this original thought:

May Robert Mueller fry Trump’s gonads.

Charming.

In addition, Boucher opined:

Trump firing everyone who investigates him. TOTALITARIANISM.

When it comes to totalitarianism, Boucher obviously has no clue. His ignorance notwithstanding Boucher, like many leftists I know, assumes that Trump supporters are idiots. Thus, he says:

SUB-ZERO: The intelligence level or [sic] Trump supporters.

Rand Paul isn’t a Trump supporter — not in any serious sense. Thus, Boucher’s attack on Paul, unless motivated by a personal dispute, shows that he’s not just anti-Trump, but also left-wing. And, indeed, as John says, he’s reportedly a strong supporter of socialized medicine.

He’s also a Bernie Sanders fan. Because Boucher wasn’t active on social media in 2016, we don’t know for sure that he supported Sanders over Hillary Clinton. However, as noted above, these days he frequently shares Sanders memes.

Boucher, then, is the second Sanders supporters to assault and injure Republican politicians. The first was James Hodgkinson who opened fire at the Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game. Rand Paul was at that practice and in the batting cage when the shooting started.

Sanders, of course, bears no responsibility for either attack. It’s not his fault that two of his supporters used deadly (or potentially near-deadly) force against elected Republican officials. Sanders has never advocated violence and, if anything, his rhetoric tends to be more substantive and less personal than that of many left-wing politicians.

But is it a coincidence that two of his supporters have assaulted Republicans this year? We know from observing Antifa, as well as some behavior on college campuses, that elements of the left believe in violence against those who stand against their agenda. To what extent does this belief extend from organized thugs and crazed students to the leftist next door?

I’m not prepared to say, based on two incidents, that it extends widely. However, it seems to extend more widely than I had thought.

Moreover, it doesn’t need to extend very widely for America to have a serious problem. Add up the Antifa rioting, the campus shout-downs, and the two sets of assaults on congressional Republicans, and I say we already have a serious problem.

Nor will that be all. As John asked: Where will it end?

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