photo credit: Georgia Browning
With the Presidential election coming up very soon, on Nov. 5, spirits are high, but so are the tensions. This election period has seen an outbreak of political violence, in the form of assassination attempts. Recently there have been two known assassination attempts on Former President Trump, as well as rumors about an attempt to assassinate Vice President Harris.
According to AP U.S Government Teacher John Carmichael, political violence in the United States has existed since the country’s founding. The revolution itself was an act of political violence. Now it is more prominent due to the media and exposure to certain events.
While there are different types of political violence, some of the most recent ones are the ones on Former President Trump. The first attempt on his life occurred on July 13 at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear. The second attempt was at his golf course in Florida, but the attacker was found before damage was inflicted, according to source.
“With both assassination attempts on Trump, you saw his poll numbers actually go up. His supporters liked his reaction to his first assassination attempt where he got shot in the ear, stood back up and raised his fist, and a symbolism of let’s fight. That has allowed him to raise a lot of money from that, and that would be one consequence, and increase in the polls,” Carmichael said.
It also tends to raise partisanship in the United States when supporters of one political candidate see an assassination attempt against them, and they blame the other side.
“It’s really disheartening to see these attacks because I believe that our democracy is set upon the belief that any citizen who wants to run, can. With these issues we are seeing, I think that iyt discourages more people from politics,” senior Emily Rodenberg, president of Orange’s Social Studies Honors Society.
While thinking about these attempts on Former President Trump’s life, people must consider that politicians face threats all the time. The nation-state of Iran has vowed to end Trump’s life as well. Similarly, Vice President Harris has had threats made to her by Elon Musk on social media, leading the Secret Service to pay him a visit.
These acts of violence are not at all new to American history, and Carmichael said the country hit its peak with political violence in 1968, with the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Dr. King was blocked in his advocation for the Civil Rights movement, while Kennedy was a senator, who was going to run for president.
“Political violence is very prevalent and has always been here. We peaked in ‘68, but we are seeing it in the election cycle as well,” Carmichael said.
Another form of political violence is when supporters of politicians decide to take their words seriously and act on it. For example, Former President Trump verbally attacked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, leading to a plot of seven people trying to kidnap her, according to source.
“They were going to take her to another location torture her and kill her. That’s political violence, when politicians say rhetoric like that. Sometimes their followers will act on it,” Carmichael said.
Rodenberg also believes that the issue of political violence needs to be approached as a bipartisan issue, and we need to respect one another and show understanding to begin to combat this issue.
Political violence has been prominent in American history since the beginning and is still occurring currently, spurred on by the media and politicians. While this has been an ongoing issue, we are facing a spike in the issue, and need to focus on how to solve it.
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