Emergency teams work the scene after multiple rapid-fire gunshots ring out near the White House on May 23, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Here we go again – normalizing political violence. Another young person with mental health issues is agitated to violence by anti-Trump rhetoric, killed by Secret Service at the White House, flash in the pan, “new normal.” Only it is not normal.
We are living through a dangerous period – one seeking to condone political violence, encouraging it for anti-constitutional ideologies like anarchism, nihilism, communism, radical Islam, anti-Semitism, various warped, anti-historical mindsets that deny American history, tradition, faith, freedom, work, and basic respect.
History teaches that any society – especially a republic – unmoored from morality that disrespects its own laudable traditions, faith, freedoms, work, and respect is on a downward slope, likely to accelerate into chaos, followed by tyranny.
History is littered with examples, ignored at our peril. Democratic Athens fell to Sparta in 404 BC. The Roman Republic collapsed in 27 BC. Russia fell to the Communists in 1922. The Chinese Republic went Communist in 1949. Italy fell to the fascists in 1922, and Germany in 1933. When morality decays, evil sees a chance and rises.
Plato’s “Republic” warns expressly that a republic that forgets its founding principles, disrespects citizenship and the rule of law, invariably goes to tyranny.
In the 1830s, Alexis De Tocqueville marveled at America – our moral fiber, resolve, self-awareness, but warned: “Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
These lessons of history and warnings are relevant today. America is special, has an extraordinary history, but is not immune to the onslaught of ideological evil.
How do we protect ourselves then? How do we reclaim respect for each other, our sacred Constitution, exceptional past, tried-and-true norms – and remind each other that we have a constitutional revulsion at political violence for problem solving?
The only way to get back to “what works” is patience and a determination to act in accord with our past, believe the Republic is worth preserving. We need leaders who believe we can reeducate each other – not permit political violence in some cases and revile it in others, but consistently revile it in all cases.
Needed is a rethink about what is acceptable. The polarization of politics, demonization of history, tradition, faith, work, respect for the past, citizenship, borders, freedoms, and family must stop. Our future as a republic depends on it.
A restoration of respect for genuine education – trades, skills, reading, math, science, history, and not activism and fictional genders – plus a return to logic, reason, and understanding the difference between facts and fiction is overdue.
The short story is this. History teaches us, and we must learn quickly. If we do not stop normalizing political violence and elevating the abnormal, we will see everything former Americans fought and died for lost to rank ideological depravity. To save the Republic, we must regain our footing, re-find True North, and follow the compass.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
