Transcript

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I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh hammer show. This July 4th, the nation will celebrate its 250th anniversary.

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It will be a quarter of a

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millennium since Thomas Jefferson penned those immortal words in the Declaration that we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. Donald Trump will throw a party like none other this July 4th in the nation's capital.

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It is a time that is worth

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thinking about what makes this country great.

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But before even getting to what makes

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this country great, a theme that we will hit on this show repeatedly as we approach the anniversary this July, it

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is worth thinking at first about what

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America is in its most basic rudimentary

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form in the and that takes us

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to one of our favorite anecdotes here

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on the show, which is the story out of Philadelphia in 1787.

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The failures at that point of the Articles of Confederation were clear and unmistakable.

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The wise men met in Philadelphia during

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Summary

Podcast Summary: "Leftist Political Violence: An Existential Threat to the Republic"

The Josh Hammer Show – April 27, 2026
Host: Josh Hammer

Episode Overview

In this incisive solo episode, Josh Hammer examines what he argues is an escalating crisis of leftist political violence in the United States and its existential threat to the republic, especially as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Drawing on recent events, including an attempted assassination at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Hammer contends that political violence is overwhelmingly a problem of the left, provides historical and statistical context, dissects elite and media reactions, and reflects on the broader implications for American self-government.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Republic at a Crossroads: 250 Years and Political Violence

Hammer opens by recalling Benjamin Franklin’s warning: “A republic, ma’am, if you can keep it” (02:04).
He frames political violence—not foreign threats—as America’s greatest existential danger as it nears its semiquincentennial (02:16).
Cites Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address: “If America is ever going to be destroyed, it will have to happen from within” (03:09).
Identifies a “lethal, years-long, arguably decades-long trend” of political violence “coming from one side of the political aisle” (03:28), specifically the left.

The DC Assassination Attempt: Details and Immediate Fallout

Details the incident at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner:
- Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old Californian, opened fire, injuring a Secret Service agent (who was protected by body armor) (04:26, 05:43).
- Allen self-identified as a “friendly family federal assassin” and left a manifesto explicitly targeting Trump (05:57, 06:32).
- Hammer criticizes the Secret Service perimeter: “The fact that you could just walk right into this hotel is just utterly astounding” (05:34).

Media and Political Reactions: Denial, Deflection, and Euphemism

Criticizes the mainstream media and Democratic leaders like Barack Obama for feigning ignorance about Allen’s motives (04:39), likening it to Obama’s “we don’t know the true motive” trope post-Islamist attacks (04:49).
Calls out House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who both condemned the attack while previously advocating “maximum warfare” against Trump (09:26).
- Quote: Jeffries: “We are in an era of maximum warfare everywhere, all the time.” (09:39)
- Hammer: “Maybe you shouldn’t have called for maximum warfare. Maximum warfare? Oh man, who could possibly misinterpret maximum warfare?” (09:58)

Patterns and Precedent: Is This “Both Sides”?

Thoroughly rejects “both sides” narratives, detailing a string of leftist attacks or assassination attempts going back to 2012 and beyond (13:18, 17:54):
- Trump: Multiple plots, from 2016’s gun grab, 2017’s attempted limo flip, 2020’s poisoning attempt, 2024 Iranian-linked plot, and February 2026’s Mar-a-Lago breach (13:34, 14:34).
- Non-Trump victims: The killings of conservative figure Charlie Kirk, Luigi Mangione (CEO targeted for ‘social justice’ motives), and attempted murder of Justice Brett Kavanaugh (15:07, 16:11, 17:11).
- Mass shootings: Floyd Lee Corkins at the Family Research Council (2012), James Hodgkinson at the Congressional baseball practice (2017), trans-identified school shooters (16:09, 16:46, 17:54).

The Role of Elite and Social Media

Blue Sky (left-wing social platform) is described as “a hotbed of fetishized assassination porn... a haven for domestic terrorism, domestic violence” (06:07, 28:23).
Lambastes on-air rhetoric by left-leaning media figures encouraging or normalizing violence.
- Quote: On Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Melania Trump as an “expectant widow”: “Not funny dude, like deeply, deeply, deeply unfunny... Is this what you want to talk about?” (26:09, 27:07)
Singles out leftist podcaster Hasan Piker as “a deeply murderous darling of their entire podcast ecosystem... Has a long, sordid history of calling for open political violence in this country” (18:38, 19:10).

Polls, Academia, and the “Assassination Culture”

Cites polls indicating that:
- 25% of “very liberal” Americans believe political violence is sometimes justified, versus 3% of “very conservative” (20:23, 20:44).
- 30–35% of Harvard students say political violence can be justified (20:59).
- 56% of self-identified left-wingers in one study said murdering Trump could be justified (24:54).
Argues America’s elite institutions are producing “an assassination culture that is increasingly ubiquitous on the left” (22:19).
- “America's most prestigious universities are not necessarily producing people who will cure cancer. They're... producing political assassins and would-be political assassins…” (22:00)
- Higher education: Americans with PhDs are twice as likely as the general public to support political violence (22:16, 24:00).

The Asymmetry of Condemnation

Points out that when a right-wing attacker strikes, condemnation is universal; when it’s a left-wing actor, “you have people like the 44th president, Barack Obama, who say, I don't know the true motive, impossible to say” (29:40, 30:01).
Asserts that the fundamental difference is the left’s refusal or inability to police its own, lacking any voice with “gravitas” to credibly tell its side to stop (32:58, 33:16).
Suggests only Barack Obama could fill this role, but “he’s obviously not going to do it” (33:16).

The Threat to Self-Governance

Hammer expounds on the founding American ideal: “A people cannot be free, a people cannot be self governing when they put down their words, their pens, their keyboards, and instead they take up knives and firearms...” (31:33, 32:09).
“The only way this country endures is if we recover this sense of speaking to our fellow citizens, debating in good faith, and settling our differences… at the ballot box.” (32:13, 32:24)
Urges the left to “look itself in the mirror before it is too late and pull their own side back from a potentially fatal or catastrophic brink” (32:40).

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|---------| | 00:36 | Opening: America’s 250th Anniversary, Founding Values | | 02:16 | Political violence as existential threat | | 03:34 | DC Assassination Attempt Recap | | 06:02 | Manifesto and Blue Sky Social Media | | 07:04 | History of attempts on Trump’s life | | 12:54 | “Condemn all sides” – Hammer’s Rebuttal | | 13:18 | Series of attacks/attempts against Trump | | 15:07 | Attacks on conservative figures beyond Trump | | 17:54 | School and church shootings by left-wing shooters | | 18:14 | Violent left-wing rhetoric and “globalize the intifada” | | 19:00 | Critique of Hasan Piker and online culture | | 20:23 | Polls showing asymmetry of support for violence | | 22:00 | Universities as breeding grounds for violence | | 24:54 | 56% of left-wing respondents justify Trump’s murder | | 26:00 | Jimmy Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke | | 27:24 | Image of Erica Kirk, widow of slain Charlie Kirk | | 28:23 | Blue Sky as “assassination porn” hub | | 29:33 | Asymmetry in public responses/condemnation | | 31:30 | Founding ideals and threat to self-governance | | 32:40 | Call for the left to self-police | | 33:16 | The need for a leftist voice with credibility | | 34:04 | Secret Service failures, security recommendations | | 35:08 | Proposal for a White House East Wing ballroom | | 36:54 | News segment: Congressional redistricting updates |

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“There is no greater existential threat to the American republic than political violence.” (Hammer, 02:16)
“If America is ever going to be destroyed, it will have to happen from within.” (Abraham Lincoln, as cited by Hammer 03:09)
“A republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.” (Benjamin Franklin anecdote, 02:04)
“Blue Sky is a haven for domestic terrorism, domestic violence.” (Hammer, 06:07)
“This is just the third consecutive year... an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.” (Hammer, 07:04)
“Political violence is wrong, period. No matter who it is coming from. I feel almost infantile or juvenile having to actually say that... this is almost exclusively a left-wing political phenomenon.” (Hammer, 12:51–13:18)
“The notion that political violence is equally spread across the spectrum is garbage, is flaming, flaming hot garbage, and you should not agree with it for a second.” (Hammer, 18:00)
“America's most elite institutions of higher education seem to have a galling, galling political violence problem – more perhaps than any other.” (Hammer, 21:08)
“Hammer: ‘When you do have a freakish right-wing figure who... engages in an act of political violence, it is condemned across the spectrum. When it happens on the left, you have people like... Barack Obama, who say I don’t know the true motive.’” (29:33–29:40)
“A people cannot be free... when they put down their words, their pens, their keyboards, and instead they take up knives and firearms and rockets and other forms of weapons.” (Hammer, 31:30–32:09)
On leftist self-correction: “Is there such thing, frankly, as a figure on the left who has the gravitas, who has the credibility... that could actually sit down, look in the camera and say, stop, this is wrong? I’m not sure that person exists.” (32:58)

Closing Thoughts

Hammer concludes that America’s ability to “keep the republic” depends on a collective recommitment to civil self-governance and open, lawful debate—an ideal he accuses the left of having dangerously abandoned in favor of apologia and even advocacy for violence. He calls for honest appraisal, institutional reform (including better security protocols and a proposed White House ballroom), and, above all, moral clarity on the left to stem what he considers a life-or-death crisis for the nation.

For listeners who missed this episode, this summary encapsulates Josh Hammer’s central arguments, evidence, and urgent warnings on the trajectory of American civil society in the face of politically motivated violence from the left.