Without saying it openly, videos shared millions of times aim at violence against the US President. The line between frustration and fanaticism is blurring.
May 11, 2026, 06:02May 11, 2026, 06:09
A 27-year-old influencer picks up his cell phone, films himself – and says a sentence that has now been circulated millions of times online: “Somebody should… you know?” (“Someone should…you know?”). He doesn’t say anything more. But his message is clearly understandable to his internet audience. The video spread rapidly on Tiktok and Instagram and reached millions of views.
Bloody reality: Donald Trump has already been shot at the campaign rally in Butler in July 2024. Now new calls for attacks are spreading rapidly.Image: keystone
This example, which is a report from the “Washington Post” at the beginning is emblematic of a worrying trend in the USA. Under the meme “Somebody should do it” deliberately vague statements are circulating on social media that allude to violence against the incumbent President Donald Trump. However, the call for an assassination is never explicitly stated.
It is precisely this ambiguity that makes the contributions dangerous: they function as an inside joke for those in the know, while the authors can claim at any time that they did not mean anything specific. The US influencer Taylor Lorenz describes the wave “not as some absurd online trend, but something that goes much, much deeper.”
The reach of such content is enormous. Individual videos receive millions of clicks, and thousands of comments confirm that the implicit message is understood. What was once limited to the fringes of the internet has moved into the mainstream, experts say.
Even celebrities don’t shy away from taking part. Last Wednesday, “Star Wars” legend Mark Hamill posted on Bluesky a Donald Trump lying in an open grave under the inscription “If Only” and the dates of life “1946-2024”. In the accompanying text, the actor playing Luke Skywalker wrote that the US president should stay alive long enough to “witness firsthand the consequences of his devastating policies.”
Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker caused outrage with a tasteless picture of Trump.Image: keystone
According to the news agency Reuters The White House subsequently called Hamill “a single sick individual.” The 74-year-old Hollywood actor has since deleted the picture.
Frustration and powerlessness towards Trump’s policies
Researchers warn that the constant repetition of such suggestions could promote a gradual normalization of political violence – especially among people who are already in an exceptional psychological situation.
The authors’ motives are different. Many describe their posts as an outlet for frustration and powerlessness in the face of Trump’s policies. They emphasize that they are not calling for real violence. But the boundaries are fluid: some people openly admit that they would welcome an attack, others flirt with financial support for a perpetrator; always accompanied by the assurance that it was just a “joke” or an exaggeration.
A commentary in the magazine “Political Affairs” interprets the trend as an expression of political desperation, but also as a strategic mistake. The ironic violent fantasies are ultimately “useless politics” that create more emotion than effect. Anyone who imitates their opponent’s aggressive rhetoric loses moral credibility and provides them with additional arguments to restrict political freedoms.
At the same time, the comment points out that Trump himself has contributed to the brutalization of political language: for example through previous calls for violence against people with different views or his role in the storming of the Capitol in 2021. But that is precisely why it is dangerous to mirror this dynamic.
Instead of short-term emotional relief, long-term effective political strategies are needed. Otherwise, the line between frustration, provocation and implicit threat of violence will become increasingly blurred – with potentially real consequences.
Three documented assassination attempts so far
This concern is reinforced by the actual assassination attempts on Trump. On July 13, 2024, then 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump from an elevated position with a semi-automatic rifle during a campaign appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed his right ear. One bystander was killed and two others were seriously injured before Secret Service snipers shot and killed the perpetrator.
Guests at the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, 2026 take refuge under the tables after shots were fired in the anteroom.Image: keystone
Just two months later, on September 15, 2024, the Secret Service thwarted another attack attempt on Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The armed perpetrator, Ryan Wesley Routh, had hidden in the bushes near the golf course with a rifle and apparently waited for Trump for hours. A security officer spotted him in time and opened fire, whereupon the man fled and was later arrested.
A third incident occurred recently on April 25, 2026, during the traditional White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington. According to several media reports, an armed man tried to break through the security zone around the hotel. There was an exchange of fire with the Secret Service; Trump was brought to safety unharmed. The perpetrator previously sent out a manifesto making it clear that he viewed Trump and parts of his cabinet as targets. (aargauerzeitung.ch/con)