How Trump is setting a deadly trap by goading opponents

U.S. President Donald Trump points a finger during a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Tensions in Chicago and Portland, Oregon are high as President Donald Trump moves forward with his federal crackdown on those heavily Democratic cities. In his column for The Bulwark, Never Trump conservative Jonathan V. Last argued that while Chicago hasn't reached a worst-case scenario so far, the possibility of things going from bad to worse in that city is quite real.

The New Republic's Timothy Noah also examines that possibility in an article published on October 8. Noah warns that Trump is doing everything he can to goad his opponents and will have an increasingly authoritarian response if any of them respond with violence.

After Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk was murdered, countless Democrats vehemently condemned the killing — from former President Joe Biden to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Trump and his allies, Noah notes, blamed MAGA critics in general for Kirk's death, and will do the same thing in response to violence that occurs in the future.

"The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a terrible act of violence that cut short the life of a 31-year-old human being," Noah laments. "It was also a political opportunity — not for the left, as Kirk's mentally disturbed killer may have believed, but for the right, which, as many have noted, instantly turned him into the Trumpian version of Horst Wessel. Two weeks after Kirk's killing, Trump issued a presidential memorandum criminalizing opinions that are 'anti-capitalism' or 'anti-Christianity'; that represent 'extremism' with regard to 'migration, race, and gender'; or that express 'hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.'"

Noah continues, "These thought crimes are to be prosecuted in the name of 'Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.' It's the most sweeping government crackdown on dissent since J. Edgar Hoover's notorious COINTELPRO — and it may end up being much more harmful."

Noah points out that "right-wing political violence is not only more common" than "left-wing violence" — it is "also more likely to be judged legitimate by those in whose name it's committed."

"Left-wing killers have a long way to go before they reach the level of sustained political violence achieved by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Jew-haters, Islamaphobes, homophobes, and many more," Noah explains. "Just to be clear: I abhor all violence, political or otherwise, left and right…. I therefore take no joy in reporting that Trump's extremist rhetoric and increasingly authoritarian policies have, according to CSIS, made 2025 'the first time in more than 30 years that left-wing attacks outnumber those from the far right'… But this year's surge has given Trump a pretext, and he's taking maximum advantage."

Trump, Noah contends, is cracking down on heavily Democratic cities in the hope that his opponents will respond with violence.

"To use left-wing violence to justify harassing political opponents," Noah warns, "Trump needs to keep the pot bubbling, even at the expense of personal safety. Recall that there were two attempts last year on Trump's life. Sending troops into blue-state cities is mainly, I think, Trump's strategy to create violent confrontation that he can exploit for political gain…. The National Guard doesn't want another Kent State. But Trump would relish one, no matter who the aggressor was."

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