Is America trapped in a cycle of political violence? It certainly feels like it. In the span of just over a year, the U.S. has seen assassination attempts, some successful,
against President Donald Trump,
lawmakers from Minnesota and their spouses, the
CEO of UnitedHealth and
most recently, Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close Trump ally who was shot dead on Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University. These attacks seemingly know no political or geographical bounds: They happen to figures on the left and right, in cities and states all across the country, both in private residences and in public spaces.
The root of much of the rise in political violence is the media. The advent of Television opened the door to information reaching the public in a bigger way but the real culprits for the strong rise in the strength of political biases (which lead to violence) are the biased and extreme political views seen in social media (Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.), which allow all people to make their voices heard to thousands of others, and the news media, which allows biased political views to be part of the news (such as with FOX and MSNBC).
Perceived as an equalizing force for disenfranchised individuals without a voice, the importance of social networks as agents of change cannot be ignored. However, in some societies, social networks have evolved into a platform for fake news and propaganda, empowering disruptive voices, ideologies, and messages. Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google hold the potential to alter civic engagement, thus essentially hijacking democracy, by influencing individuals toward a particular way of thinking.
New research explores why political violence is rising—and what we can do to stop it.
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump highlights a terrible truth: Political violence and support for political violence have been rising in the United States. Trump himself
may bear much of the
responsibility for this trend. His entry into American politics triggered a
sharp rise in violent rhetoric, which seems to have
led inexorably toward
violent actions. Acts of
stochastic terrorism—that is, violence by individuals operating outside of any organization—have proliferated, with the attempted killing of Trump only the latest example. In fact, threats against lawmakers
grew ten-fold since 2016. That trend crystallized on January 6, 2021, when Trump raised a mob of protesters who
attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop certification of Joe Biden as president. Five people died that day, and four responding police officers committed suicide within seven months of the attack.
Having said all of the above, this extreme rise in political rhetoric began in 2008 with the election of a Black President (Obama), which caused a rise in racism to bloom. In addition, it is also the fact that both parties have allowed the extremes of their parties to gain a big voice. This is more true with the Right, but the left has seen some of this as well:
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In addition, Trump has also been a strong reason for the increase of political violence, given that much of what he has done is bring hate, revenge, retribution and extreme views on issues where compromise is not possible. All of that causes people to get angry, frustrated, and immovable in their views.
Critics argue that Trump has helped fuel this collapse. Political scientists analyzing his speeches from 2015 to 2024 found a sharp rise in
violent vocabulary—from 0.6% in 2016 to 1.6% in 2024, surpassing nearly all other democratic politicians and approaching the levels seen in authoritarian regimes. In March 2024, Trump warned of a “bloodbath for the country” if he wasn’t reelected. Such language, while galvanizing to some, has been condemned by others as dangerously incendiary.
This graph shows that the facts shown above are true.
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The poll does allow for multiple choices. Let us all know what you think.
