Trump learns his 'belligerent bombast' actually has consequences: analysis

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a press briefing at the White House, following a shooting incident during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2026 REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

President Donald Trump has reveled in "belligerent bombast" and the "implicit encouragement of violence" throughout his political career, according to a new analysis from The i Paper, and now he is learning the hard way that "such words have consequences."

On Tuesday, Patrick Cockburn published a piece for the outlet examining Trump's relationship to violence, both in the way that his rhetoric encourages it and in the ways that he has wielded state violence as president.

"No U.S. administration has relished inflicting violence and death on others at home and abroad as much as Trump in his second term," Cockburn wrote. "In Minnesota, two innocent people are shot dead by federal agents. In the Caribbean, Venezuelan seamen clinging to their upturned boat are killed in a US air strike. In Iran, a US Tomahawk slams into a school killing 168 people, including around 100 children."

He added: "Trump’s implicit encouragement of violence against those he identifies as his opponents is scarcely news. In 2017, he refused at first to condemn a white supremacist who had driven his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, VA, killing one and injuring 17 others. On the first day of his return to the White House, he issued a blanket pardon to 1,600 people in jail or awaiting trial for the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol."

Despite the long history of violence in the U.S. and its impact on politics, Cockburn argued that things feel like they are "getting more violent and out of control." This growing sense "reached a crescendo" with the onset of the Iran war, which represents "the ultimate expression of state violence." With Trump's Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth openly decrying "the stupid rules of engagement" for war, Cockburn suggested that the administration "can hardly expect others to stick by the rules," and wondered if the world is entering "a new era of assassinations."

"The political temperature is high and rising in the US and the Middle East," Cockburn continued. "Wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran are being fought without mercy or restraint. The US has adopted the Israeli policy of 'mowing the grass,' a sinister, understated way of describing repeated state-led assassination campaigns, as a strategy – and might even work until the enemy strikes back in kind."

He concluded: "Trump ramps up his belligerent bombast, speaking of ending Iranian civilisation and returning the country to the Stone Age, but such words have consequences. The world from Minneapolis to Tehran has learned that the only way to deal with Trump is to resist and counter violence with violence. A nastier, more vicious world is in the making."

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