I Think that just maybe because we get so much information thrown our way, it is difficult to for people to recall and process the whole picture. But sometimes that can be very, very dangerous.

I listened to President Biden’s address from the Oval Office, just as I have always listened to addresses from our Presidents to the nation. I knew before it started what to expect from the current President…a voice calling for the best in Americans. Unfortunately, my fear is our country is too divided to heed a voice of reason…and, the President was too decent to remind people that what happened to the former President is not an anomaly, and we don’t have to look far back to find instances of political violence, or law-making that ensures violence is likely here to stay…that is, if American voters want it to stay. There is a difference this time, and I am going leave it to the readers of this piece to make your own assessment about what’s different.

In recent years, we have seen several instances of political violence and threats, and this list is by no means exhaustive:

November 2017 – Per a Politico article, President Donald Trump issued a forceful call for the Justice Department to investigate Hillary Clinton over “all of the dishonesty,” writing on Twitter that “the American public deserves it!” and, yet he denies his many calls to “Lock Her Up.”

Some have called it an obsession. These rants and unsubstantiated accusations have resulted in Clinton receiving many threats.

January 2021– As a pro-Trump protest turned into a violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, four people in the crowd died: Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as rioters tried to breach the House chamber…she was trying to get into the Speaker’s Lobby, which leads to the House chamber; Kevin D. Greeson died of a heart attack, collapsing on the sidewalk west of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Kevin D. Greeson died of a heart attack, collapsing on the sidewalk west of the Capitol on Jan. 6; Rosanne Boyland appeared to have been crushed in a stampede of fellow rioters as they surged against the police and; Benjamin Philips, the founder of a pro-Trump website called Trumparoo, died of a stroke. Per the medical examiner report in April, Mr. Greeson and Mr. Philips died of natural causes. He added that Ms. Boyland’s death was caused by an accidental overdose.

January 2021– In the days and weeks after the riot, five police officers who had served at the Capitol on Jan. 6 died: Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police, who was attacked by the mob, died on Jan. 7; Officer Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department killed himself after the attack; Officer Howard S. Liebengood of the Capitol Police also died by suicide four days afterward. Two Metropolitan Police officers — Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag — died by suicide in July.

June 2021 – Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his wife, Tricia, and their family received threats of violence months after the election that former President Donald Trump falsely claims was riddled with fraud, Tricia Raffensperger told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

October 2022 – Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, then the 52nd Speaker of the House, was attacked by Canadian far-right conspiracy theorist David DePape. He beat Pelosi with a hammer during a home invasion of the couple’s residence, leaving him seriously injured. Pelosi required surgery for a fractured skull. The San Franciso police arrested DePape at the scene. Prosecutors believed the attack to be politically motivated. DePape who had a history of mental health issues and drug had embraced various far-right conspiracies including Q’Anon, Pizzagate and Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in 2020. Online, he made conspiratorial, racist, sexist, and antisemitic posts, pushed COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, and his blog also contained delusional thoughts. At his subsequent trial, DePape testified that he was motivated by conspiracy theories and had hatched a “grand plan” to target Speaker Pelosi and others.

June 2022 – The Supreme Court ruled the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, issuing a major decision on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The 6-3 ruling was the Conservative-controlled court’s second important decision on the right to “keep and bear arms.” In a landmark 2008 decision, the court had said for the first time that the amendment safeguards a person’s right to possess firearms, although the decision was limited to keeping guns at home for self-defense.

June 2022 – Per CBS news reporting, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers testified that he and his family had started to dread Saturdays, as groups appeared outside his house playing video claiming he is a pedophile and corrupt politician.  Protesters have also left literature on his property and argued with and threatened not only Bowers but also his neighbors. Bowers recalled seeing one man who wore three bars on his chest and was carrying a pistol.”At the same time … we had a daughter who was gravely ill who was upset by what was happening outside and my wife, that is a valiant person, very strong, quiet, very strong woman,” he said, growing emotional. “So it was disturbing.” “Bowers’ daughter died in January 2021.

The stories in this CBS piece are horrifying…and it didn’t matter that some of these folks were staunch Republicans.

January 2023 – According to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office report, Friday, January 6, 2023, marked 24 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress in the process of affirming the presidential election results. The government continues to investigate losses that resulted from the breach of the Capitol, including damage to the Capitol building and grounds, both inside and outside the building. The approximate losses suffered as a result of the siege at the Capitol totaled $2,734,783.  More than 284 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 99 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted January 6 at the Capitol, including about 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.  Approximately 484 individuals have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges, many of whom faced or will face incarceration at sentencing. Approximately 119 have pleaded guilty to felonies. Another 364 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. A 2022 NPR review of social media posts, speeches and interviews found that Trump has made calls to “free” Jan. 6 defendants or promised to issue them presidential pardons more than a dozen times. Trump has said he would issue those pardons on “Day 1” of his presidency, as part of a broader agenda to use presidential power to exact “retribution” against his opponents and deliver “justice” for his supporters. “We’ll be looking very, very seriously at full pardons,” Trump told an interviewer in 2022. “I mean full pardons with an apology to many.” This investigation is on-going.

February 2024 – According to Reuters article, Judges and prosecutors are facing repeated threats of violence as they handle cases related to Trump, interviews and documents reveal. The wave of intimidation follows the ex-president’s attacks on judges as corrupt and biased – and some worry it threatens America’s long tradition of judicial independence.

June 2024 – The US Supreme Court has lifted a ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessory used in America’s deadliest mass shooting. The Conservative-controlled court ruled by a 6-3 majority that the government did not have the right to ban the accessories. The Trump administration banned bump stocks after they were used in a shooting that killed 60 people at a concert in Las Vegas in 2017. But a Texas gun shop owner who challenged the ban said the government went too far in defining the accessories as machine guns, which are mostly illegal under federal law – with some exceptions – and took his fight all the way to America’s highest court.

July 2024 – According to an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the 2024 Republican National Convention is expected to bring various celebrities, influencers and familiar faces to Milwaukee. Among those likely to make an appearance is Kyle Rittenhouse, the 21-year-old gun rights figure who gained national attention in August 2020 when the then-17-year-old fatally who was born and raised in Antioch, Ill., just over 30 minutes southeast of Kenosha shot two men and wounded a third during protests in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was ultimately found not guilty on all counts. In the years since his acquittal, Rittenhouse has remained in the spotlight, attending numerous events hosted by conservative organizations and officials including Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Matt Gaetz. Rittenhouse is currently the outreach director for Texas Gun Rights, a state affiliate of the National Association for Gun Rights advocacy group.

Just minutes after Biden finished his remarks from the Oval Office, former President Trump posted “UNITE AMERICA!” to his Truth Social account. I don’t know if he forgot his previous messages to America, or if he is just counting on us to forget.

I’m going to leave this right here for anyone who needs to refresh their memory.