Political violence threatens US elections

New York and Washington. Political violence in the United States, which has reached levels not seen in 50 years, threatens to bloody the national elections that will be held in two weeks, and where a violent post-election period cannot be ruled out.

Incidents of political violence since the storming of the Capitol by Donald Trump fans on January 6, 2021, whose purpose was to overturn the election, are the largest and most constant increase since the 1970s, according to a calculation by Reuters. The incident review detected at least 300 cases of political violence since the beginning of 2021, including more than 50 this year alone. Most of the cases monitored by Reuters come from the right, experts say.

In recent months, two attacks against Trump have been recorded – although it is worth noting that in both cases, those responsible were individuals apparently encouraged by right-wing currents – as local incidents including the use of firearms in Arizona among other places.

“Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned that political violence with mass casualties could disrupt government continuity” during this election cycle, write former White House officials Steve Simon and Jonathan Stevenson in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books. For its part, the Department of Homeland Security, in its annual assessment of national security threats, warns of “extremist violent responses” during this election cycle.

Other experts repeat warnings that this electoral situation could be chaotic and violent by pointing out the violent rhetoric of Trump and his allies declaring that this election is to “save” America from the dangerous “radical leftists” – the Republican candidate and former president himself. has suggested that perhaps military troops should be deployed to confront that “threat” – as well as against the immigrants who are “invading” the country. Time and again he has used violent vocabulary to attack his political detractors, including the media as “enemies” of the United States and the judges and prosecutors leading several criminal cases against him.

Never before in American history has the peaceful transfer of executive power following an election been disrupted until January 2021, with Trump inciting his fans to storm the Capitol to stop the certification of the national election. The violence, including threats to assassinate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump’s own vice president, Mike Pence, forced the emergency evacuation of them and every legislator from the Capitol. Trump recently called it “a day of love,” and repeated that he will likely pardon the hundreds of participants who have been prosecuted and imprisoned. Furthermore, Trump, once again (refusing to accept the result of the last election), has refused to commit to respecting the results of this election.

Therefore, experts warn that the post-election period, especially if the margin of difference between the two candidates is as narrow as the polls so far suggest, could be very volatile, including violent expressions.

For months, right-wing sectors have fueled the atmosphere of political violence by declaring that if Trump does not win, a “civil war” will break out in the United States, and some right-wing sects and groups have been preparing for it.

And they have support among broad segments of the Republican universe. A recent PRRI poll shows that almost a third of Republicans believe that “patriots” might have to resort to violence to “save the country” and one in five think that if Trump loses the election, he should declare it invalid and do so. “whatever it takes” to assume the presidency.

Although experts debate whether acts of political violence have increased, they do not include among their calculations the threats of violence, including death threats, against public officials, electoral officials, judges and journalists – something that has been triggered especially against those who are perceived as opponents of Trump and his movement. Experts point out that these threats could quickly turn into actions since this is a country “where on any given day, there are thousands of people walking the streets who are openly armed and support committing political violence,” commented Galen Wintemute, director of the Program. of Violence Prevention at the University of California, Davis, in a recent interview with the New York Times.

It is worth remembering that in the United States it is said that there are enough firearms to arm the entire population of this country – something between 300 to 400 million, although there are no precise official figures.[[https://www.thetrace.org/2023/03/guns-america-data-atf-total/].

Political violence is not only limited to the electoral scenario. From his first presidential campaign in 2016 to date, civil rights and civil liberties advocates have warned that the rhetoric of Trump and his allies, including several governors and legislators, has justified and nurtured right-wing groups and movements and unleashed hate actions by various parts of the country against minorities.

The central anti-immigrant message of Trump’s campaign has fueled attacks against immigrants by promoting his message that they are invaders who come to murder, rape and rob Americans – even eat pets – and that they are “poisoning the blood” of this country.

At the same time, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and international Studies, the number of domestic terrorism attacks and plots against government agencies, officials, elected politicians, candidates and party representatives over the past five years is almost triple of such incidents recorded in the last 25 years combined.

But as always, the United States repeats that there is an external enemy, including internal political violence. This Tuesday, officials from intelligence agencies in the Biden government warned that Russia and Iran could seek to fuel violence during the US electoral period to “weaken” democracy and undermine confidence in the electoral result, the Wall Street Journal. “Some external actors have the capacity to fuel protests and take violent actions during this period,” said an intelligence official when presenting this assessment to journalists.