Political Threats & Violence Rising in the US
Originally published by Nick Mordowanec for Newsweek
Threats and violence remain a major concern heading into November’s presidential election, with experts telling Newsweek that flippant rhetoric could break guardrails that have helped election officials and workers better fend off verbal and physical attacks.
The 2020 election was fraught with myriad claims of fraud and interference by Republicans, leading to 62 unsuccessful lawsuits challenging election protocols, vote counting and the certification process in nine heavily contested states—including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which will again play vital roles in deciding this year’s outcome.
Former President Donald Trump is running for a second term but has yet to formally concede his defeat in the last election. The recent assassination attempt against him has renewed trepidation in a hot political environment.
Rohin Sharma, a terrorism analyst in the U.S. Army and adjunct professor in George Washington University’s Homeland Security Program, told Newsweek that the lack of self-censorship in language by politicians across the board “is troublesome.”
“My nightmare fear is that it comes down to a thousand votes in a certain area or county, like we had in Florida in 2000…That was relatively peaceful,” Sharma said. “There were no tanks in the street, no cops. If we have something like that [now], I fear it won’t be peaceful.”