Francis Crescia is a Toronto-based writer.American politics has always been a violent game, with 1860 one of the worst periods in its history, as the Republicans elected Abraham Lincoln and 11 states seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy. After five years of Civil War, Lincoln was shot dead by a vengeful John Wilkes Booth. In 1881, US President James Garfield was shot dead and in 1901, an anarchist murdered President William McKinley at a public event.In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt was shot. He survived, as the bullet went through his 50-page speech, hit his eyeglass case, and then lodged in his chest. He went on to give a rousing 50-minute speech. During the 1968 Democratic convention, while police battled protesters in the streets opposing the Vietnam War, President Johnson declared that he would not seek another term as he felt that America was being torn apart. Johnson of course, was president because in November 1963, his predecessor John F. Kennedy had been assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.And so it goes on. At a congressional baseball practice in 2017, a left-wing activist shot several people and injured Republican Steve Scalise. In 2020 six men were arrested for attempting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. A less-known incident involves an Ohio man, Austin Combs who shot his neighbour Kristen King. King’s wife said, "He's come over like four times confronting my husband because he thought he was a Democrat.” During the past year, there were over 8,000 reported threats against members of Congress according to the U.S Capitol Police. Should anyone be surprised that rising political violence and extreme rhetoric led to Trump’s assassination attempt? Last year Keep Our Republic held a focus group among Democrats and Republicans; what emerged among the participants was a strong sense that "this election will see political violence.” Participants stated they believed it was a matter of when, not if, someone would be seriously injured or killed during the 2024 election cycle. The Washington Post and the University of Maryland in 2021 conducted a survey where 1 in 3 respondents felt that violent action against the government can be justified compared to 1 in 10 in the 1990s. In a poll, 28% of Republicans and 12% of Democrats believe that Americans may "have to resort to violence to get the country back on track.”Research conducted by political science and sociology expert’s states that Americans are using their political affiliation as a source of how they define their social identity, who they enjoy spending time with, the products they consume, and their sense of morality being tied to politics. Back in 1965 about 60 percent of married couples registered with the same party; today that figure has increased to 85 percent. In recent years, the Liberal elites abandoned working people in favour of diversity, identity politics and climate change. At the same time, the Republicans have become more white with the working class joining its ranks after years of economic decimation due to globalization.Even before Trump’s assassination attempt, Biden’s rhetoric was heating up as he found himself consistently behind in the polls and his advisors changed course, dropping talking points about the economy and deciding to go after Trump’s character. Biden blasted Trump’s actions on January 6th when a mob ransacked the capital: “Trump’s mob wasn’t a peaceful protest, it was a violent assault.” "Trump's assault on democracy isn't just part of his past. It's what he's promising for the future," Biden stated. On July 8 speaking to donors Biden said: It’s time to "put Trump in the bullseye." The Biden team even sent the quote to the media confirming it was part of its new strategy. Privately Biden has described Trump as a “sick fuck.” Using violent language that has nothing to do with policy can easily influence a young delusional psychopath (Thomas Crooks) who decided to crawl onto a roof right in plain sight and shoot Trump. One may recall that Ronald Reagan’s shooter John Hinckley was influenced by popular culture and shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster.Trump is also guilty of using language that inflames the political temperature as he pledged to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin” and warned that “if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole country.” After being picked by Trump to be his Vice President, JD Vance headed to his hometown to speak at a rally where hometown state senator Republican George Lang took the stage to chants of "Fight, Fight, Fight" and said that if the Republicans don't win the 2024 election it could lead to a civil war to save the country. The overheated political rhetoric which is now the norm was started by the political elites in how they conveniently divided society into groups based on race, gender, ethnicity, and religion to exploit people's fears and control voters for political purposes. Those divisions are now existential, us versus them and this polarization is playing out daily through social media. The last presidential election ended with a violent attack on the US Capitol leaving five dead and 140 injured. The clash between populist Trump and Harris ( Obama 2.0) will remain too close to call right to the end. November’s presidential election may go down as the nastiest in history with neither side accepting defeat, with many legal challenges that could take weeks to resolve.Historian Arnold Toynbee studied the decline and fall of civilizations and believes that "civilizations die from suicide and not by murder." They collapse from within when elites intent on material prosperity stop solving problems and create a large state to hold on to power. The enlarged state kills innovation and creativity and subjugates working people. The masses respond with hate and violence and the social order breaks down. America has arrived at a crossroads unless the country can be united and the elites get back to solving serious problems like income inequality where the top 1% hold more wealth than the entire middle class, a cost of living crisis, addressing out-of-control deficits, foreign wars that cost hundreds of billions, Toynbee’s thesis of why civilizations collapse will prove inevitable. Francis Crescia is a Toronto-based writer.
