On August 9 this year, a seventy -year -old man in Utah, Utah, was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency because he threatened to kill President Biden on the Internet. As a result, law enforcement officers were shot and killed during the arrest.
It is reported that the man refused to arrest and held firearms at the time.He wrote on Facebook before: "I heard that Biden was coming to Utah. I turned out my old Geely Services (a camouflage service) and cleaned the dust on the M24 sniper rifle."Other death threats were issued, including threatening to "eliminate" the prosecutor of Manhattan region in charge of the former President Trump suspected of paying the "sealing fee" case to the adult film actress.
For extremist researchers, this incident has highlighted a worrying trend, that is, the continuous upgrading of American violence political remarks in recent years, and these remarks seem to promote violence in real life.
A few weeks before this incident, Trump posted the address of his predecessor Obama on social media. A Trump supporter who had participated in the 2021 Trump riots immediately took weapons and weapons and weapons and weapons andThe ammunition went to Washington to find Obama's residence, but was arrested.
Civilians may also be killed
Political violence is not limited to political figures, and civilians may also be victims.In October last year, two men in Mississippi broke out of disputes while discussing Trump's business ability, and one of them was angry and stabbed each other with a kitchen knife.About a week later, a few days before the US midterm election, a man in Ohio was shot shot by a neighbor, and the reason for the murderer was just mistakenly thought that the other party was a Democratic Party member.But the fact is that the deceased was registered as a Republican party at least 10 years ago.
Reuters released by Reuters in August shows that since Trump supporters have caused a fatal riots on January 6, 2021, at least 213 political violence cases in the United States have killed 39 people.Experts believe that the United States is facing the largest and longest duration of political violence since the 1970s.
Under the circumstances that the two parties in the United States have intensified and the presidential election will be held in 2024, whether this trend will deteriorate.Gary Lafree, a criminalist at the University of Maryland, said that US political violence has intensified in nearly 10 years in the late 1960, but it has been relatively rare by 1980. Before and after the first election of Trump in 2016, political violence began again.Rising, "this wave seems to have not yet reached its peak."
A research report released this month warned that the protection of voters and electoral staff still has "big loopholes" at present, and as the US guns are increasing, political differentiation and violence have intensified.Measures to ensure that the election is free of politics and gun violent threats.
This report was jointly written by the Judicial Center of the New York University School of Law School and the Gefugs Law Center dedicated to preventing the violence of guns.The report pointed out that American democracy is facing a series of associated threats, and Trump has still insisted that he has failed to re -election in the 2020s because of the fraud, which has encouraged these threats.
poll: more people support the use of political violence
The "Dangerous Danger" investigation report released by the University of Chicago in July shows that more and more Americans support the use of political violence.7%or about 18 million Americans believe that exercising violence to restore President Trump is a "legitimate" approach, which is two percentage points from the January investigation; 17%of people support the use of force to force Congress to force members of parliament"Doing the right thing" is also higher than 9%of the investigation in January.
Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago, said, said: "The prosecution of Trump has intensified support for him, but this is not the only source of radical. You also see that the left wing becomes more and moreAngry and radical. "
The recent polls of the Southern Poverty Law Center also showed that 41%of Republican interviewees and 34%of Democratic respondents believe that "protecting the country from radical extremist infringement may take some violence measures."
Daniel Byman, a senior researcher at Strategy and International Issues Research Center (CSIS), said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that the current situation of US political violence is undoubtedly worrying.He pointed out: "Part of the problem lies in the degree of polarization. Americans often regard those who are politically inconsistent with their opinions as hostiles, instead of thinking that this is reasonable."
In August last year, Christopher Lei, director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FBI), warned at the parliamentary hearing that US election disputes and dissatisfaction with domestic politics are inciting tension.The US Department of Land and Security announced in May this year that the political extremists that were "driven by a series of ideological beliefs" constituted a "persistent and fatal threat".
Civil servants are often threatened by violence
In response to whether Trump's re -election of presidents will increase the risk of political violence, Byman said: "Trump blatantly ignores the specifications to prevent the use of violence. He may refuse to accept any election defeat or setbacks, claimingThis is 'false' or 'fraud'. This kind of remarks can be rationalized by violence. "
Trump often criticizes political opponents and judicial personnel with fierce words.Rachel Kleinfeld, who studied both polarization and political violence, pointed out that the threat of prosecutors or judges occasionally occur, but Trump's violent attack increased a fanatic follower to payThe possibility of all action.
A large number of Internet threats have become part of the daily work of many US civil servants.According to data from the US Law Police, federal judges and other court workers in 2021 received as many as 4,511 incidents that threatened or communicated in improper communication, nearly five times that of 2015.The US court system reported in March this year that in recent years, "threats and improper communication on federal judges and other court personnel have increased significantly in recent years.
Experts: The violence threats will increase and continue to increase
Experts warn that violent threats will increase in the tension and political environment where the presidential election leader may face trials.Mark Pitcavage, a senior researcher at the United States Anti -Defamation Alliance Extremeist Research Center, said: "A variety of people and institutions will continue to receive a lot of threats.It may be detonated, but you may not know who this match is. "
Byman believes that because the Federal official has made better preparations to prevent potential violence, the risk of the 2021 Congress riots in 2021 has decreased.But he also pointed out: "I am worried about the risk of political violence at the state and local level, especially if the national leader or the senior state leader incite them to support them."
Peter Feaver, a professor at Politics at Duke University, pointed out that the occurrence of political violence requires a common role of various factors in the occurrence of political violence. This situation is rare.Taking the riots of the United States Congress as an example, this is a timeliness action of the results of the Congress certification election, the rally supporting Trump's rally, and the instigators including Trump."All of this must exist at the same time in order to transform the potential emotions captured by the polls into actual violence."
