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Political assassinations have a long history in the US, and yes, they are on both sides of the political spectrum: John F. Kennedy was shot, Ronald Reagan almost. Right-wing militias wanted to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan. A left-wing assassin nearly killed Republican Rep. Steve Scalise.

Viewed in this way, last Friday’s attack on Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s husband, could be incorporated into this inglorious tradition, regret it — and go about business as usual. One shouldn’t do it. And these are the reasons:

1. The Heated Political Climate

Four out of five Democrats see Republicans not only as political opponents, but also as a threat to democracy. It’s the same the other way around. Just as our Catholics were once forbidden to marry Protestants, American parents today become desperate if one of their children wants to marry a member of the other party.

Americans are more politically divided than they have been since the Civil War, and that’s more than a statistic. About half of Republicans not only believe in an impending new civil war, they even applaud this development. Respected political scientists consider the danger of such a war to be considerable. The Americans are armed to the teeth. There are now more firearms than residents in the country.

2. The attack was no accident

Susan Collins, a moderate Republican senator from Maine, warned weeks ago in the “New York Times” of an attack on members of Congress. It is no coincidence that Paul Pelosi was the victim. He is like no other the husband of the right-wing hated woman. The attacker, a 42-year-old man named David DePape, screamed as he entered the house. “Where’s Nancy?”

Nancy Pelosi embodies pretty much everything conservatives hate. She is intelligent, wealthy and arguably the most skilled strategist in American politics. “It’s sex there. It’s the class. It is the vision of a wealthy left-liberal woman from San Francisco. Everything is there,” David Axelrod, a former adviser to Barack Obama, told the New York Times.

Hate memes against Pelosi are as common as sand at sea in far-right forums. Donald Trump added fuel to the fire. He repeatedly called Pelosi “crazy” and accused her of being hysterical and prone to uncontrolled nervous breakdowns. Right-wing MP Marjorie Taylor Greene even called Pelosi a “traitor,” a crime punishable by death.

3. The far right is more dangerous than the left

On Sunday’s political talk shows, representatives of the Grand Old Party went out of their way to suggest that the violence was on both sides of the political spectrum. For example, they referred to a recently prevented attack on Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative Supreme Court judge. But the comparison is more than wrong.

For years, the FBI has identified far-right terrorism as the biggest threat to the country’s security, and the FBI is not necessarily known as a far-left organization.

In fact, this statement has solid statistical support. Far-right terrorists have killed 122 people in the United States since 2001. On the other hand, there is only one victim of an attack by left-wing extremists. An investigation last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a renowned think tank, found that right-wing extremists were involved in 267 planned or executed attacks. This is in contrast to 60 similar plans by left-wing extremists.

Finally, a Washington Post-University of Maryland survey found that 40 percent of Republicans say violence against the government is justified. Only 23 percent of Democrats share this view.

4. Rising Racism and Anti-Semitism

Rapper Kanye West, who recently changed his name to Ye, was a cultural icon in the US. He is not only seen as a musical genius, but also as a gifted fashion designer. Along with his now-divorced wife Kim Kardashian, West embodied black pride and rampant consumerism.

Meanwhile, the West has become a symbol of anti-Semitism and – perversely – racism. During Paris Fashion Week, he wore a T-shirt that read ‘White Lives Matter’. Shortly after, he published a tweet threatening that he would now go on alert level three against the Jews.

West clearly went too far. Sponsors like Adidas have canceled his contracts. Even an apology that has since been filed should no longer stop the rapper, whose sanity is in dispute, from finally becoming a pariah. What is troubling, however, is the fact that West has unleashed a deluge of anti-Semitic tweets. Which brings us to the question:

5. What’s going on with Twitter?

With his purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk wants to transform the platform into an arena where all voices are heard. Therefore, on the day of the takeover, he fired the members of the board and announced that there would be no more censorship in the future. He was clearly only partially aware of what he was getting into. Shortly after, he had to follow up in a message to advertisers that Twitter would not become “hell” for extremists.

This is exactly what is happening, and Musk himself is deeply involved. On Sunday, he tweeted to his 112 million followers about the murder of Paul Pelosi, saying: “There’s a small chance this story has more to it than meets the eye.” What did Musk mean by that?

The tweet references a story that appeared in the Santa Monica Observer, a newspaper known for far-right lies. Without a shred of evidence, it is claimed that Paul Pelosi’s case was not a politically motivated attack, but a dispute between homosexuals.

The far-right scene immediately and gratefully received this fake news. For example, far-right filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who was pardoned by Trump, immediately told his Twitter followers: “The left is going crazy because we don’t believe their crazy statement about the attack on Paul Pelosi, because we laugh about it because it is so. ridiculous. This means we no longer believe their fake news. The left’s control over us is finally broken.”

Elon Musk says of himself that he suffers from a mild form of Asperger’s syndrome and is therefore prone to uncontrolled outbreaks. He has since deleted his tweet from Paul Pelosi. What remains is the concern that Twitter will actually become a hellhole for the far right.