It was a typical Saturday for my family and me. The life of an OTR trucker can be toilsome, to say the least, making a long week away from home render the weekend sacrosanct. Even the mundane chores requiring my attention are a welcome conviviality by comparison. Later that evening, I had resigned myself to relaxing in my recliner and opened my phone to check the day’s news. My malaise was instantly shattered as the news broke in real time: an assassin had attempted to murder Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. As I frantically searched for the television remote while my phone buzzed with incoming messages, a solitary thought occupied my mind: this was inevitable.

I know some will take this admission as a rebuke of Trump, yet nothing could be further from the truth. In point of fact, this sense of inevitability was predicated on the mounting severity of tyrannical opposition and oppression thrust upon the American people and, succinctly, Trump himself. This is indisputable. Every attempt to besmirch, dehumanize, and imprison the MAGA movement had faltered. If one were to follow this strategy logically, calculating the resounding failure of all previous attempts, assassination was the next logical conclusion.

But unlike historic assassinations, this wave is being carried out by the radicalized minds of the social media generations—individuals who have been stripped of reason and accountability for decades. Claiming that words are bullets and bullets are words, a “call to arms” was issued through every news outlet and social media platform to frame all who oppose the Global Marxist agenda as a dire threat to their very existence. This pattern was evidenced tragically by the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Yet, while the call has been answered, it has failed to reach its desired outcome; instead, the movement has only been emboldened.

We are here now as the second Trump presidency ruthlessly dismantles the foundation of the totalitarian temple they labored so long to erect. Whether it be cultural, resource, or financial dominance, the enemy watches as the reins of power are being ripped from their bloodstained hands. I am brought to pause in light of these successes, however, because those tyrants are still out there, seething with hatred for the free-minded who lay waste to their arrogant dominion. The next action’s impact must target hearts at the largest possible venue in front of a global audience—a truly demoralizing blow. Tasking this to the radicalized masses has proven unsuccessful, so a larger, more capable actor must be employed: a zealot for the cause. Only one such entity fits the profile, and in light of geopolitical friction, it now has retribution to add to its list of motivations: Iran.

As we approach the 250th celebration of our Union, I am fearful of what that next logical conclusion might be.