If one were only to watch Friday’s edition of PBS News Hour, they would come away with the impression that “rotten” political rhetoric is mainly a right-wing phenomenon. Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart went so far as to claim Republicans are afraid “of being human” on the matter. The background for the conversation was President Trump announcing he wasn’t going to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated. Host Geoff Bennett had pointed out Trump called Walz “whacked out” but didn’t mention other instances of Walz calling Trump a “tyrant,” “cruel,” and urging Democrats to be “meaner.”     It would be one thing to say Trump should rise above it, but Bennett should have at least provided some context. As it was, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru warned, “There's another element of this. On the one hand, you have got this political rhetoric, which I do think both sides, but disproportionately the president, has gotten rotten. But you have also got a lot of untreated mental illness in this country. And it's that reaction of those two things that is causing this threat level to rise. At least Ponnuru managed to earlier mention assassination attempts against Trump and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Bennett, however, was more interested in only focusing on Trump and Republicans’ rhetoric, “The criticism, though, that there aren't enough Republicans who speak out forcefully to condemn that hot political rhetoric, what do you say to that?” Now wavering, Ponnuru claimed, “I think that that's absolutely right. But I think Republicans have learned that when they fall out of line with the president, when they criticize the president, whether it's on rhetoric or anything else, that they're going to get punished for it.” Capehart, who earlier in the segment during the Iran part of the discussion made the embarrassing mistake of referring to Top Gun as an Air Force movie, added, “That's actually quite frightening, which I think explains why there's been silence, crickets, because they're afraid of doing the right thing, of being human, will get them on the wrong side of the president of the United States. Folks should be very concerned about that.” If PBS wants to argue they should keep their federal funding because they aren’t biased, a good place to start would be insisting that Democrats tamp down their “Trump is Hitler” or “Army parades are proof Trump is like Kim Jong-un” rhetoric as well. Here is a transcript for the June 20 show: PBS News Hour 6/20/2025 7:46 PM ET RAMESH PONNURU: But there's another element of this. On the one hand, you have got this political rhetoric, which I do think both sides, but disproportionately the president, has gotten rotten. But you have also got a lot of untreated mental illness in this country. And it's that reaction of those two things that is causing this threat level to rise. GEOFF BENNETT: The criticism, though, that there aren't enough Republicans who speak out forcefully to condemn that hot political rhetoric, what do you say to that? PONNURU: I think that that's absolutely right. But I think Republicans have learned that when they fall out of line with the president, when they criticize the president, whether it's on rhetoric or anything else, that they're going to get punished for it. JONATHAN CAPEHART: That's actually quite frightening, which I think explains why there's been silence, crickets, because they're afraid of doing the right thing, of being human, will get them on the wrong side of the president of the United States. Folks should be very concerned about that.

Last weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, protesters gathered for a No Kings rally, holding signs that compared federal immigration officers to Nazis — one reading, “Nazis used trains. ICE uses planes.” These kinds of messages aren’t just offensive, they’re dangerous. And they’re becoming far too common in politics.The same weekend, halfway across the country, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL) was shot and killed in a politically motivated attack. While the investigation is ongoing, the timing is chilling — and it reminds us that words and rhetoric can have consequences far beyond the floor of a legislative chamber.Most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions.When public servants are threatened, harassed, or even harmed for doing their jobs, something has gone deeply wrong in our democracy.It’s time to turn down the temperature — not just in our political speeches, but on our main streets, in school board meetings, and even our protest signs.Cool the rhetoricPublic service is about problem-solving, not posturing. I’ve always believed in working with my neighbors — even when we disagree — to make our community safer and stronger. But that’s becoming harder when disagreement is met with dehumanization and history is twisted into political theater.We’ve seen it right here in my community. At a recent public hearing on how to protect children from online predators, a woman disrupted the meeting to shout that our Jewish sheriff, Fred Harran, was a “Nazi.” A week later, during a Bucks County Commissioners meeting about a law enforcement partnership with ICE, Commissioner Bob Harvie warned of “parallels” between modern politics and pre-war Nazi Germany.I’ve worked hard in the state House to expand Holocaust education in Pennsylvania schools, because I believe history must be remembered — not weaponized. As the daughter of educators, I was raised to know that using Nazi references as political attacks not only dishonors the memory of those who suffered, it poisons the possibility of honest, civil debate.Civil discourse is criticalNone of this is to say we shouldn’t debate serious issues — immigration, public safety, fiscal priorities, and the future of our communities. Or that we shouldn’t take part in peaceful protest rooted in our First Amendment rights. We must. But we must also remember that democracy isn’t about shouting each other down — it’s about listening, questioning, and finding common ground.RELATED: It’s not a riot, it’s an invasion Blaze Media IllustrationThe truth is, most people don’t want politics to be a blood sport. They want real solutions. They want their kids to be safe, their neighborhoods to be strong, and their elected officials to focus on solving problems — not scoring points.Let’s be better than the signs. Let’s be better than the sound bites. Let’s choose to be neighbors first and partisans second.Because if we don’t change the tone now, we risk losing more than just elections — we risk losing one another.Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.

Many of us on the political right once held a principled aversion to telling the ultra-wealthy how to spend their money. Confiscating private wealth sounded un-American. If billionaires wanted to build libraries, fund symphonies, or throw lavish parties, fine — they were reinvesting in society, directly or indirectly.But that was before the rise of the modern “philanthropath”: a new breed of sociopathic billionaire using inherited or self-made fortunes to re-engineer civilization from the top down. These aren’t benevolent stewards. They’re ideological crusaders waging war on tradition, prosperity, and truth.These are not patrons of progress — they’re funders of decline. And their wealth has become a weapon.George Soros spent millions installing radical, pro-crime prosecutors in cities across the country. Bill Gates bankrolls schemes to block the sun in the name of climate alarmism.At least Soros and Gates earned their fortunes. Increasingly, the most aggressive philanthropaths are heirs — trust-fund radicals who never worked a day to build the wealth they now use to tear society apart.The nepo-billionaire leftEarlier this month, Walmart heiress Christy Walton made headlines for bankrolling the No Kings anti-Trump protests. Hyatt heir and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) used his $3 billion inheritance — and famous last name — to push transgender surgeries on minors. After President Trump’s 2024 election, Pritzker promised to turn Illinois into a destination for confused parents seeking to chemically sterilize and mutilate their children.His sibling Jennifer Pritzker (born James) proudly funds transgender medical interventions, calling it “a continuation of my family’s tradition of putting personal philanthropy into service for the public good.”As I’ve documented before, the eco-vandal group Just Stop Oil — responsible for throwing soup on van Gogh paintings and blocking roads across Europe — draws funding from Abigail Disney, Aileen Getty, and Rory Kennedy. These aren’t anonymous donors. They’re members of America’s closest thing to a royal class. Getty even defended funding the group in the Guardian, writing, “I fund climate activism — and I applaud the van Gogh protest.”Inheritance reconsideredI don’t support an inheritance tax. These taxes hit middle-class families hardest — especially family farms and small businesses. The IRS doesn’t care how long your grandfather worked the land; it just wants a cut.But the more the ultrarich use their fortunes to fund antihuman ideologies, the harder it becomes to defend that wealth politically. They are making the moral case for confiscation easier by the day.Market trader and television commentator Jim Iuorio recently wrote, “There is no moral or economic argument in favor of inheritance tax ... it should obviously be zero ... making it more than zero is rooted in petty jealousy.”Fair enough. But if I had to argue in favor of an inheritance tax on moral grounds, I’d just start naming names: Alex Soros. Melinda Gates. JB Pritzker. Christy Walton. Aileen Getty. It’s not envy — it’s damage control.RELATED: Billions go in, billions come out — guess who benefits? Photo by BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty ImagesWhat the right can doWe don’t need to confiscate wealth to fight philanthropaths. But we do need a strategy. Here’s a start:Trustbusting: Break up corporate monopolies. This won’t empty the bank accounts of people like Gates or Zuckerberg, but it could dismantle the ideological machines they built — and send a message: America won’t tolerate ideological empires built on tech monopolies.Lawfare: Conservatives have long avoided weaponizing the law. But that restraint has allowed the left to prosecute its enemies with impunity. State attorneys general and DAs should investigate tax-exempt foundations. Are these groups funding organized criminal activity? Are they operating as unregistered lobbying arms? If so, they’re fair game.If the ultra-wealthy refuse to stop using their fortunes to undermine Western civilization, we must treat their fortunes as what they are: weapons.An antihuman agendaThese billionaires aren’t just funding protests. They’re promoting a post-human future. In the name of “climate justice,” they want to ban meat, take away your car, outlaw carbon-based energy, and impose synthetic food alternatives on working families.They aren’t asking politely. They’re demanding submission — or else.World Economic Forum guru Yuval Noah Harari said the quiet part out loud in 2022: “We just don’t need the vast majority of the population.” I assume he doesn’t mean himself. He means you. He means your family.When elites embrace mass depopulation as policy, don’t expect me to argue over tax brackets. I’m not interested in theory. I’m interested in survival.So yes, I’m more open to separating sociopathic billionaires from their wealth than I once was. I still believe in economic liberty. But liberty doesn’t mean allowing radicalized aristocrats to fund our destruction.Because if we don’t stop them now, they won’t just take your gas stove — they’ll take your future.

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Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after 104 days by a judge's ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests.