The Riverside County Police Department believes that there was another assassination attempt at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella over the weekend. Although it’s unclear if the suspect intended to harm the former president, political violence has become a major issue in American politics.
In the incident that occurred over the weekend, Vem Miller was arrested for having unregistered firearms in his car, which police searched after he attempted to use a fake VIP pass when entering the rally. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco claimed he “probably stopped another assassination attempt.” Miller denies this allegation and was released on Saturday on bail. Sheriff Bianco’s comment captures the sentiment of concern spreading amongst the American public.
A recent study by the Research Polarization Lab found that American support of partisan violence — which specifically refers to violent crimes against members of an opposing political party — is low, but thousands of Americans still support the idea. Of 73,325 participants, 5.7% of people under 30 support partisan violence and 1.7% of people over 30.
According to a study conducted last year by Reuters, the current level of political violence has not been seen since the 1970s. There were 213 cases of political violence between the January 6 insurrection and the report’s release on August 9, 2023. Of these cases, 18 resulted in fatalities.
Reuters defines political violence as “incidents linked to an election or a partisan political dispute, or premeditated acts driven by an identifiable ideology.”
Joe Saltzman, a professor of journalism at USC, witnessed the political climate of the 1960s, and believes the lack of civil debate is troublesome.
“I am much more nervous about the political violence today than I was in the 1960s when everything seemed more controlled and there was less hostility, lying and violence in speech and manner throughout the country,” he said in a statement to Annenberg Media.
Saltzman believes that political violence surrounding issues like abortion and the rights of people of color has always been a part of U.S. history.
“The presidency and now candidacy of Donald Trump has given permission to a lot of people who believe that violence is a necessity to foster their point of view. So, while political violence has always been a part of this country’s history, it is now more prevalent among more people than before 2016,” Saltzman said.
Some have seen the change caused by political violence around the world firsthand. Sean Wilson, a freshman studying economics, said he has witnessed the impact of political violence in his home country of South Africa.
“I think political violence is actually very useful in a lot of situations… I’m thinking of my own country, South Africa,” Wilson said. “Political violence was necessary to overthrow apartheid, which was a system of segregation… at its core, it’s just a symptom of the system being corrupt.”
Wilson suggested that social media has “glorified” political violence, as he saw people cheering on the first assassination attempt of the former president on X.
“[Online jokes] make the election less serious because you’re showing all these things, and you’re kind of dumbing it down,” Wilson said. “You’re taking away how extreme it is for there to be an assassination attempt. And in that way, people feel less connected to the election, and they don’t necessarily feel that their vote matters.”
Others believe that while political violence can be necessary, it shouldn’t be the primary vessel for change. Zachary Wiencko, a senior studying computer science, said the political climate is heating up due to Democrats and Republicans blaming one another.
“I think to have a healthy democracy,” he said, “we should have change be affected through voting and not through violence.”