WASHINGTON, D.C. — The nation’s capital is a crossroads where elected officials meet with their constituents or special interest groups, where hecklers and protesters are a fact of everyday life, and where visible efforts to maintain law and order contrast starkly with numerous signs calling for left-wing violence.
“Call the exterminator. The White House is full of vermin!” is a new sign that appeared to show up Monday morning, ostensibly calling for the extermination of not just President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, but every cabinet secretary on down to the lowest-level political staffer who works there. It seems to have been posted just days after the country witnessed the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, in the wake of years of similar left-wing rhetoric that has fueled such political violence.
With left-wing political violence at a fever pitch and their acts of domestic terrorism growing closer and closer together, it is time for the U.S. Capitol Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police (MPD), and other authorities to take apparent threats more seriously.
Image CreditBreccan F. Thies / The Federalist
If you work anywhere near Capitol Hill, you will notice that the street signs and lamps, trash cans, electrical boxes, and other public property are constantly plastered with political propaganda.
While the signs are essentially always radically left-wing, they are also occasionally violent and are frequently — at least weekly — changed out for new signs attacking a new conservative political opponent.
As Vance said Monday while guest-hosting The Charlie Kirk Show, left-wing political violence is much more prominent than anything going the other direction. Statistically, leftists are willing to justify the violence in numbers that aren’t remotely comparable to the numbers on the right.
Another sticker, the style of which has been replicated across Capitol Hill, called for the assassination of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, saying, “a LUIGI for Steven [sic] Miller now.” The sticker references alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione, whom the left has fawned over since the immediate aftermath of the killing. His charges were just lowered dramatically Tuesday.
Image CreditBreccan F. Thies / The Federalist
Miller referenced the threat, and the organized nature of it, when Vance was hosting The Charlie Kirk Show, stating, “It is a vast domestic terror movement, and with God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
Most of the signs are concentrated in locations surrounding the U.S. Capitol Building, many of which are right outside congressional office buildings where members of Congress and their staffs go to work every day.
One location, however, might be the most concerning because the intersection is a zone that requires major security: The intersection of 1st Street SE and C Street SE.
To anyone who does not work on Capitol Hill, this location likely means nothing, so here are the key buildings located at that intersection:
- Cannon House Office Building: One of three primary House Office Buildings where hundreds of members of Congress — Democrat and Republican — have their offices, along with staff and interns. It also houses several major committee meeting rooms, and is where citizens can go to meet with their member of Congress in person.
- The Capitol Hill Club and Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters: Diagonally across the street from Cannon sit these two organizations. One is the national headquarters for the Republican Party, and the other is a members-only club for Republican senators and congressmen. Elected officials are therefore always present there.
- Across the street from those buildings sits Capitol South Metro Station, which is the primary public transportation access point for all House employees, meaning thousands of staffers walk through this intersection on a daily basis.
- Also at the intersection is the Madison Building of the Library of Congress.
Are those posting the signage trolls trying to think of antagonistic things to display in public, or are they a cell of potentially violent left-wingers with proximity to government officials? The answer seems like it would be easy for the police to find out because of the amount of surveillance that should be in that area.
When asked by The Federalist about the signs, a U.S. Capitol Police officer posted near the Capitol Building said that their presence is at the very least defacing property, which would give whichever D.C. authorities have jurisdiction the impetus to start investigating. The Capitol Police officer called in the presence of the “exterminator” sign upon being alerted to it.
How MPD, the Capitol Police, and other authorities decide to share jurisdiction (and responsibility) is up to them, but MPD did not respond to a request for comment asking if they were already looking into groups or individuals creating and posting the threats.
One thing is for sure: The individuals or groups appear to be organized and well-funded. Most of the signs have the same style, font, sticker paper, and rhetoric. They are also posted and updated constantly, across a multi-block radius.
It is well known that far-left organizations and people fund public discord and are at least indifferent, or more likely supportive, of political violence when their discord inspires it. That is the reason the Trump administration announced it would be seeking Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges against billionaire George Soros and others who have a history of funding the destruction of the United States.
While it is unclear who is behind the threats on Capitol Hill, right now, authorities are simply removing the stickers (on occasion — the “exterminator” sticker remains in its place) and repainting the posts, boxes, and other pieces of property.
Perhaps the Trump administration can, at the very least, make finding these defacers of property an enforcement mechanism of Trump’s initiative to beautify Washington, D.C., but the enforcement effort could also be a way to uncover the apparently vast political activist, organized (and probably paid) protest apparatus that exists in the nation’s capital.
Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
