Former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric has become increasingly violent and one noted political analyst is warning that some of his supporters are “highly likely” to try and kill people before the 2024 presidential election because of this.

That’s what political analyst Brian Klaas warned on Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC, according to Newsweek. Trump is part of a packed field of presidential hopefuls seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination as he attempts to regain the White House. He has continually led the pack in the polls by a strong margin. Recent national averages have him receiving 50 percent support from likely Republican voters. His lead is so strong in fact, that many observers think the primary process is a mere formality.

But as he has continued campaigning, Trump has increasingly larded his comments with hints and unmitigated calls for violence, and this has really worried his critics. Last month on Truth Social Trump attacked outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Mark Milley and suggested that his previous dealings with Chinese officials amounted to “treason,” and then claimed that “in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” He’s also recently said he would support legislation that allows business owners and employees to shoot shoplifters on sight in “places where there’s a true breakdown in the rule of law.”

During his interview on MSNBC, Klaas, an associate professor in global politics at University College London and a frequent critic of the former president, was asked by host Jonathan Capehart about how worried people should be about Trump’s increasingly violent rhetoric.

“It’s the biggest story of the 2024 election, but it’s not being treated as that in the press,” Klaas responded. “I think that’s a real failing because it has become the banality of crazy incitement to violence, this sort of normalcy and routine of Trump saying things that could get people killed. You have him suggesting that you could execute America’s top general. On Friday night, you had him joking about Paul Pelosi [husband of Nancy Pelosi] being attacked and the crowd laughed when he referenced an 82-year-old man being hit over the head with a hammer.”

Trump’s violent threats are being treated like background noise. The media has become complacent in this and so many of us have become inured to his nonstop stream of words. Sometimes it’s just easier to tune him out, he talks so much.

But Klaas had more examples of Trump’s violent rhetoric and why it’s a bad idea to ignore him.

“He called to execute people who shoplift from stores, a very minor crime, one to take seriously, but certainly not one worthy of execution…He has demonized a variety of people in his various outlets, on Truth Social, and in his various discussions in front of crowds, and this is related to a term called ‘stochastic terrorism’ … what it basically means is when someone who is very powerful targets and demonizes individual groups in the public, at least a small number of their followers will take them as marching orders. And what is highly likely going into the 2024 election is that a small subset of Trump’s very well-armed and extremist base will try to kill people.”

"We're sorta gambling a lot of people's lives and our democracy on the idea that this rhetoric doesn't translate into real world violence and that is a very, very bad bet for America to make" @brianklaas on the concern America should have from Trump's violent rhetoric #SundayShow pic.twitter.com/DOQSTbtoDr

— The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@weekendcapehart) October 1, 2023

He also referenced one Trump supporter in particular, Cesar Sayoc Jr. In 2018 he was arrested after attempting to send bombs in the mail to various people Trump criticized on Twitter — this includes Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and former President Barack Obama.

But the only reason Sayoc was unsuccessful, Klaas argued, was due to his lack of skill in making bombs, not because Trump’s rhetoric was insufficient.

It’s a bad idea to allow Trump’s rhetoric to become white noise because there are those who will follow everything he says to a T. And that truly is a dangerous notion.