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On the domestic front, Bongino described an environment he views as even more unpredictable. Years of dehumanizing rhetoric aimed at Trump have blurred the line between satire and incitement. Public figures have joked about violence, staged graphic imagery, or spoken casually about elimination rather than defeat. While most of this behavior is dismissed as performance or protest, threat assessment professionals focus on how such language is received by unstable individuals. History demonstrates that sustained vilification of political figures increases the likelihood of lone-wolf violence, not because elites intend it, but because some individuals interpret repeated cues as moral permission. Bongino was careful not to accuse celebrities or activists of direct responsibility, but he stressed that the cumulative effect of rhetoric matters. This dynamic is well documented in threat assessment literature and has played a role in past political violence across ideological lines.
