Less than two weeks ago, a progressive political animal attempted to slaughter nearly two dozen Republican congressmen. Thanks to the grace of God and the aim of two Capitol Hill police officers, an historic massacre was avoided. This time.

For a handful of hours there was a call for unity, and a hope the left would soften its political rhetoric. The hope is gone. Hillary Clinton and Johnny Depp, and a crass cast of supporting players made sure of that.

Johnny Depp

“When was the last time an actor killed a President?” actor Johnny Depp asked the other day at a music festival in Britain. “I want to clarify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it has been awhile and maybe it is time.” The crowd laughed and cheered. I didn’t. Mere hours before the congressional shooting, I had posted a story about John Wilkes Booth, the Trump murder fantasy of The Public Theater’s Julius Caesar, and the spirit of assassination that has been set loose on the nation. I wrote:

If the world is a stage, what kind of players are we when we envision and mimic the violent demise of our democratically leader? What spirit do we invite? What responsibility do we bear? “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

Here the fault does lie with the star.

It’s easy to call Depp’s outburst the latest example of “celebrity anger.” As fun as it may be to laugh at Hollywood’s collective hissy-fit over the election of Donald Trump, a much deeper truth must be admitted. It’s an industry that prefers terrorists to Constitutionalists. Indeed, it considers conservatives terrorists and real terrorists misunderstood.

Think I’m exaggerating? Here’s a simple question: Who is more likely to be the guest of honor at a SAG-AFTRA symposium: A Hamas-connected Iranian filmmaker or a Trump-supporting Texan? If you need more than a second to answer, you might want to up the B-12.

Remember, Hollywood’s premiere talents celebrated Hugo Chavez and have been running to Cuba faster than you can say “political prisoner.” It’s an industry that glorifies the likes of Che Guevara. This includes Johnny Depp himself, who for years wore a medallion honoring the Cuban murderer. You cannot support such bloodthirsty characters and regimes unless you embrace the underlying reality of socialist/Marxist thinking: Violence is an necessary means of achieving political ends.

Which gets us to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton

On Friday, the former secretary of state, senator and first lady threw more gasoline on the rhetorical fires. Not happy with simply critiquing the Senate’s Obamacare replacement effort — the same Obamacare her husband was ripping right before the election — she decided to condemn Republicans as the “death party.”

Forget death panels. If Republicans pass this bill, they're the death party. https://t.co/jCStfOaBjy

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 23, 2017

Let’s put aside the absolute absurdity of this coming from a woman whose party rises and sets on the altar of abortion. What lurks behind her calling the GOP the “death party”? (Or for that matter Sen. Elizabeth Warren, calling the bill “blood money.”) What possible result can there be but to cause further rancor and division? To further shred the social fabric? To incite.

When you’re an historic Democratic party figure and you’re calling the GOP a “death party” days after someone tried to kill your former colleagues, you are providing cover for a renewal of hostilities. Face it: You are providing ammo for the next James T. Hodgkinson. You are talking his talk, and when a person of your authority does that, you encourage others to walk his walk. Left unchecked, there can be no other outcome but bloodshed. Hillary wants to help the “resistance.” Hillary feeds the one who comes to “kill, steal and destroy.”

“Oh, you hater. Hillary Clinton doesn’t support violence to achieve political ends.” Really? We only need to go back a year to prove that wrong. And I don’t mean her embracing BLM like a fluffy kitten. Or her silence in the face of the post-election rioting. I don’t even mean 2016 revelations about her arming of radical Islamists for her “Arab Spring.” (And no, I don’t mean Seth Rich.)

During the Campaign

I mean something she did during the campaign. Undercover video revealed that her campaign, with approval at the highest levels, paid to instigate violence at Donald Trump rallies. The goal was to paint Trump and his supporters as violent. One such operation in Chicago caused a riot, leading to the injury of two police officers.

Hillary and her party were willing to put the public and peace officers in harm’s way just to create a narrative. What do you think they’d be willing to do to create “real change”?  History has shown us what happens when socialist leaders start executing the means to a “justified” end.

Thankfully, former President Obama is on hand to to play the role of statesman; deploying his gifted oratory to deplore the growing violence and increasingly violent chatter among his progressive class and entertainment pals. Oh, wait. He hasn’t.

But what should we expect from a guy who parties with Bill Ayers?

So What Do We Do?

If the horror of what happened on that baseball diamond didn’t slow down the death talk — even by public figures, let alone people in the shadows — it’s hard to imagine what will. When White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said last week that if she were “shot and killed half of Twitter would explode in applause,” she was right. After that Nebraska party official’s “I wish he were f****** dead!” in reaction to the shooting of Rep. Scalise, or the cheers that greeted Johnny Depp’s remarks, who would disagree with her?

So what do we do? As The Stream‘s Tom Gilson noted this weekend, we start with hope, our recognition of the truth that God has a plan. We must continue to contend, as Tom says, “for what is good and right.” Contending isn’t just walking tall in the public square. It also involves intercession. We must continue praying hard-core prayers for our nation and our leaders. We are in the midst of a battle and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty with “divine power to tear down strongholds.” What’s a stronghold? “A faulty thinking pattern based on lies and deception.” In other words, as clever and right as our arguments may be, we’re not going to get anywhere without the power and illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Further, we must operate with a heart toward reconciliation rather than retaliation. We learned what retaliation looks like last week in London with the guy who slammed into worshippers coming out of a mosque. That’s no way to go. Less dramatically, we see what it’s like when we see a caustic tweet and our first instinct is an equally hostile reply. Will kindness put out the fire? Probably not, but we can reduce the oxygen fueling the fire.

Finally, we must be, as Peter wrote, “sober in spirit,” alert and aware that the “lion” is on the prowl. This means we must not lose sight of the seriousness of the situation. Lives are at stake.

A Second Civil War

If it is true, as Dennis Prager argues, that we are already engaged in a second Civil War, we must prepare ourselves now to follow the call of Abraham Lincoln:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

These are the closing words of his second Inaugural Address. In attendance, a few feet away, was the actor John Wilkes Booth. He did not listen.