A study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has uncovered a dramatic surge in online rhetoric glorifying political violence — and, in particular, the outright normalization of assassination talk directed at public figures like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Once relegated to the darkest corners of the internet, calls for political murder are now spilling into mainstream discourse — often masked by meme culture and couched in the language of social justice. And according to NCRI, the trend is being driven most aggressively by voices on the left.

“What was formerly taboo culturally has become acceptable,” said Joel Finkelstein, lead author of the study. “We are witnessing a metastasizing shift — glorification, attempts, and changing social norms — all merging into what we now call ‘assassination culture.’”

The report traces the origins of this disturbing shift to December 2024, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated, allegedly by 28-year-old Luigi Mangione. The act triggered a tidal wave of viral content lionizing Mangione as a modern-day revolutionary — a movement that has only grown more intense and more dangerous since.

From TikToks to Reddit threads, Mangione’s face has become an icon. Billboard trucks with his image have circled courthouses. Memes portray him as a working-class martyr. And perhaps most worryingly, these tributes have inspired copycats — emboldening threats not just against billionaires, but against democracy itself.

“It’s not just Luigi anymore,” Finkelstein warned. “We’re seeing Trump, Musk, and others openly discussed as legitimate targets, often in gamified formats that obscure the real-world stakes.”

In a nationally representative NCRI survey of U.S. adults, 38% of respondents said it would be at least “somewhat justified” to kill Trump. Among self-identified left-leaning respondents, that number surged to 55%. Nearly half said the same about Musk.

Even more shockingly, nearly 40% of respondents expressed some level of support for the destruction of Tesla dealerships — a violent outgrowth of what the NCRI says is an emerging belief system that blurs the line between protest and political terrorism.

“These aren’t isolated outliers,” Finkelstein said. “They cluster together — support for violence against people, against property, all tied into a shared, radical ideology.”

The epicenter of this movement, according to the report, is BlueSky — the progressive-leaning social media platform that was once touted as a safe alternative to Twitter. Instead, NCRI now classifies BlueSky as a breeding ground for extremism, likening its function today to what 4chan and Gab once were for the far right.

Posts referencing Mangione, Trump, and Musk have topped 2 million engagements in recent months, with memes and videos turning political rage into entertainment. On Reddit, entire communities dedicated to Mangione’s “legacy” have ballooned into the tens of thousands.

California has even seen this digital venom leap into legislation. A real-world ballot initiative — dubbed the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act — has made headlines for its name alone, signaling how far this glorification has permeated public life.

“We’re at the point where murder is not just accepted by some — it’s marketed,” Finkelstein said. “And once violence becomes a performance, it spreads.”

The NCRI warns that this culture is not simply reactive, but predictive. People with high levels of “external locus of control” — the belief that their lives are manipulated by outside forces — are the most susceptible to radicalization. When paired with economic anxiety and deep political distrust, the result is a volatile environment where memes evolve into marching orders.

“Trump is the perfect storm for this mindset,” Finkelstein explained. “He’s rich, powerful, polarizing — and in the eyes of this growing radical fringe, that makes him fair game.”

And while the study acknowledges that violent extremism exists on both sides of the spectrum, the researchers found that support for assassination was 41% higher among left-leaning respondents compared to those on the right.

Finkelstein cautioned against simply silencing these conversations. “Censorship won’t cure this. Strong, moral leadership might. Leaders on the left must step up and explicitly denounce this trend before it turns deadly again.”

His message to elected officials? “If you want to protect democracy, you must reclaim the moral ground. Make it clear: political murder is not justice. It is terrorism.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)