Over half of self-identified leftists feel it would be “somewhat justifiable” to murder U.S. president Donald Trump, while 48% feel the same about Elon Musk, a new study has found.
The Network of Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) found that an “assassination culture” appears to be “emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left, with expanding targets now including figures such as Donald Trump.”
NCRI said the findings “signal a threat to political stability and public safety.” The study found that 48% of the respondents who self-identified as “left-of-center” politically felt it would be justified to murder Elon Musk, and 55% felt this way about President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, 39.8% felt it would be justified to destroy a Tesla dealership as a protest against Elon Musk.
“This report points to disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” the authors of the NCRI report wrote. “Across survey responses, nearly one-third of respondents—and a significantly higher share of left-leaning respondents—expressed some degree of justification for acts of lethal violence.”
The NCRI also criticised the Left for not condemning these actions and turning a blind eye to the growing extremism from left-wing activists. “Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, NCRI assesses a growing probability of real-world escalation,” the report warns, “Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action.”
