On Monday’s episode of The Five, Jessica Tarlov attempted to paint conservatives as hypocrites on the issue of political violence, and it didn’t go well for her. Jesse Watters dismantled her arguments point by point, exposing the left’s selective outrage and refusal to acknowledge its own role in normalizing violence in American politics.
Tarlov opened by trying to flip the script on conservatives, pointing to bogus studies that claim right-wing violence is a bigger problem than left-wing violence, which have been debunked, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. She even accused conservatives of ignoring gun violence while focusing on isolated incidents involving left-wing attackers. At one point, she insisted, “The guy who drove up to the Mormon church, set the place on fire, killed five people, shooting them was a Trump supporter. He had a Trump-Vance flag in his backyard.”
“We’re not inciting people to go kill Mormons,” Watters said bluntly. “Like you’re inciting people to attack ICE, like you’re inciting people to attack Republicans. That doesn’t happen. And if you look in the inner cities, Democrats are slaughtering each other day after day after day, and you don’t say anything about that.”
Recommended: Trump Is About to Pull Off the Biggest Federal Workforce Cut in History
Watters then reminded Tarlov that it’s not just rhetoric but actual approval of political violence that comes from the left. “Did you see the poll where it was, like, 20% of Democrats said they believed in political assassinations?” he asked. “Did you watch the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing? I mean, everybody was clapping on campus. ‘Yeah, yeah, he deserved it,’ Jessica.”
He’s right. Multiple polls have shown that the left justifies political violence at an alarming rate.
Earlier this year, the Network Contagion Research Institute found that a shocking 55% of self-identified left-of-center respondents openly believe it is “at least somewhat justified” to murder President Trump, and 48% said the same about Elon Musk.
After the shocking murder of Charlie Kirk, YouGov asked Americans about the use of violence in politics. The poll revealed that 14% of Democrats say violence can sometimes be justified to achieve political goals. Republicans, however, overwhelmingly rejected violence, only 6% saying it is sometimes justified, and 81% saying it is never justified. That figure stands noticeably higher than the 72% of Democrats and 65% of independents who said the same.
It’s revealing that Tarlov tried to shoehorn this incident into the category of political violence when there isn’t a shred of evidence to suggest that political ideology motivated it. The left has been scrambling to flip the script ever since the Kirk assassination, but the facts simply don’t back it up.
In recent months, we’ve seen unmistakable examples of left-wing political violence: the attack on an ICE facility, the shooting at an ABC station in Sacramento, and the pro-Palestinian gunman who opened fire at a country club in Nashua, N.H. Those were ideologically motivated acts, plain and simple. The tragedy at the Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Mich., on the other hand, was not the product of extremism but the heartbreaking breakdown of a veteran suffering from PTSD. Trying to lump that into the same category is dishonest spin.
Jessica Tarlov: “Ignoring the fact that the right-wing violence was MUCH LARGER than the left-wing violence, which is the truth about it... The guy who drove up to the Mormon church, set the place on fire, killed five people — shooting them — was a Trump supporter.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) September 29, 2025
Jesse… pic.twitter.com/rLJBHtb8lj
The left tries to dodge accountability for their role in political violence, but Jesse Watters exposed their selective outrage. PJ Media delivers the conservative voice the left wants silenced. Join PJ Media VIP today, use code FIGHT for 60% off, and get exclusive content, ad-free browsing, and a platform to be heard. Support fearless journalism now!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member