Political violence haunts America

American political history is littered with chapters of violence. Yet, when Donald Trump, former president and the presumptive Republican nominee for president, was shot at a campaign rally on Saturday, it shocked the world’s oldest democracy, and with it, the rest of the world. It is a relief that Trump is safe, and leaders across the spectrum have condemned the shooting, with President Joe Biden terming it “sick”. Political violence must have no place in any society, and definitely not in a democracy where individuals and political parties compete on the basis of their ideas in an election and the public sphere. Yet, even though the motives of the perpetrator in this particular case aren’t clear yet, the episode shouldn’t have come as a shock, perhaps because America’s bad political habits are coming back to haunt its polity and society in at least three distinct ways.

The first is how both sides in the American polity now treat each other as threats to the country. For Democrats, Trump threatens democracy due to his actions in power and after the last elections and his campaign promises now. Therefore, he must be defeated; for Republicans, Biden is a threat to the nation due to his record in office, especially on immigration. The almost apocalyptic manner in which both parties talk about each other has radicalised their respective support bases and opened up the space for political violence. Two, America has a gun epidemic. The easy availability of weapons of all kinds, including the semi-automatic rifle that was used to attack Trump, stems from a rigid interpretation of America’s constitutional provisions framed in the late 18th century. But this democratisation of tools of violence is an affront to civilised society. It shatters the state’s claim of monopoly over violence. It leads to frequent mass shootings and makes it easier for lone wolves and groups to plot violence while making it more difficult for law enforcement to tackle threats. Finally, rampant misinformation and disinformation are now a part of America’s political theatre and anarchic media environment. This is an inevitable result of new technology and isn’t unique to America, but when combined with its polarised politics and guns, it opens up room for ideological extremism and violence depending on what you are watching, who you are listening to, and what you are absorbing.

The fact that the shooter is a young White man, rather than a person of colour, will help in preventing the episode from deepening the already deep social, ethnic, and racial divisions. Electorally, the attack is likely to help Trump position himself as both a victim and a hero and charge up his base. But beyond the immediate implications, the story of America’s democratic backsliding, extremism and violence should worry the rest of the world.

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