Liberals have settled on who to blame for the recent shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, DC: President Donald J. Trump.
Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal is charged with the attack that wounded one soldier and killed another, and Trump has vowed to pause immigration from third world countries in response. According to a wide swath of liberal pundits, though, the blame lies with Trump for deploying the National Guard to DC in the first place.
According to Jane Mayer, a writer for The New Yorker, “This is so tragic, so unnecessary, these poor guardsmen should have never been deployed. I live in DC and watched as they had virtually nothing to do but pick up trash.” Liberal podcaster Wajahat Ali also implied the attack was a result of Trump’s actions, saying, “National Guard members should have never been deployed to DC.” The New York Times seemed to anticipate that much of its readership would have similar thoughts, offering mixed pushback by blaming Lakanwal, but simultaneously criticizing Trump’s troop deployment.
There is a marked lack of self-awareness in these accusations, as they come from the same people who have spent the last year claiming that the National Guard and ICE are being used by Trump in order to undertake a fascist takeover of the United States. If National Guard troops are targets simply for being stationed in DC, it stands to reason that panicked liberal rhetoric could be a factor in influencing would-be attackers.
Since an Afghan national was responsible for the attack, Democrats and liberal pundits have, naturally, made sure to frame the issue as unrelated to immigration. While there have been attempts to blame Trump for granting Lakanwal asylum, the bulk of the liberal narrative has again featured their usual lie that by attempting to deter crime, Trump somehow creates more of it.
While Lakanwal’s motivations are currently unknown, attacks like his, as well as other attacks this year such as the targeting of a Dallas ICE facility, would ideally prompt some self-reflection in liberals when it comes to inflammatory rhetoric. Sadly, they’re sure to ratchet it up even further as we head into the 2026 midterms.
