The Uncomfortable Truth About Rhetoric to Violence

About this episode

The episode explores the relationship between rhetoric and political violence in the United States, revisiting a previous discussion with guests Daniele Bolelli and Kristaps Andrejsons.

In the chaotic month that was September 2025, much has been said about the role of rhetoric and violence in the United States; namely how the former causes the latter, or at least how the former and the latter cannot be separated. This came up on the previous episode of History Impossible, in which I discussed this concept with my friends Daniele Bolelli and Kristaps Andrejsons as we tried to clarify the real horror of what political violence entails. In the time since that episode aired, more acts of political violence have unfolded, including the assault on an ICE facility in Texas and the attack on the Mormon church in Michigan. Whether these represent part of the broader trend that those of us like myself, Daniele, and Kristaps have been worried about, or are simply being spotlighted by the media because of how political violence has now become a topic du jour remains to be seen. But also in the time since that conversation, I thought it would be appropriate—probably now more than ever—to revisit an essay I wrote for the History Impossible Substack and Patreon subscribers that delved deep into the question of whether or not rhetoric causes violence, both from a deeper…

People in this episode

Host: Alexander von Sternberg

Guests: Daniele Bolelli, Kristaps Andrejsons

Topics covered

• rhetoric
• violence
• political violence
• psychology
• legal implications
• media
• society

Keywords

• rhetoric
• violence
• political violence
• psychology
• media
• September 2025

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ICE

Places: Texas, Michigan

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