Political violence study: Unsettling tolerance growing in the USA

After the attack on Donald Trump, Canadian television CBC noted the alarmingly high level of tolerance for political violence among citizens of the United States.

Studies conducted by Robert Pape, a political scientist from the University of Chicago, revealed that in June this year, about 10 percent of adult Americans believed that using force to prevent Trump's return to power would be justified.

This means that such a belief is shared by as many as 26 million people, of which over 8.5 million possess weapons.

On the other hand, 7 percent of adult Americans, or 18 million people, of whom 9 million possess weapons, support the use of violence to return Trump to the presidency—according to the research of a political scientist working at the University of Chicago.

In its commentary on the recent assassination attempt, CBC stated that "American history is repeating itself in a most macabre way."

"If everything unfolds as expected, Donald Trump will deliver a triumphant speech in Milwaukee next Thursday night to accept the Republican presidential nomination," wrote Alexander Panetta, commenting on Saturday's events. He added that Trump supporters would celebrate the fact that he survived an assassination attempt on the campaign trail.

Panetta recalled that in 1912, near the convention site in Milwaukee where Trump will accept the nomination, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on President Theodore Roosevelt.

"I don't know if you fully understand that I was just shot," Roosevelt said at the time, who was again running for the U.S. presidency, showing blood-stained pages of his speech.

Commentator CBC noted that it is currently important to watch whether Trump behaves like Roosevelt, who immediately after the assassination attempt tried to calm his voters, shouting at the assailant: "Kill him!". Similarly, after the 2012 assassination attempt, the leader of the Quebec Party, Pauline Marois, behaved in the same manner.

Stephen Marche, the author of the book "The Next Civil War," wrote in the newspaper "The Globe and Mail" that political violence in the USA has been building for almost two decades. He emphasized that civil wars result from unresolved pathologies, and America is burdened with its pathologies: morbid extremes in support (for political parties), the collapse of faith in state institutions, environmental degradation, and increasing inequality.

The public French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada noted on Sunday the scale of spreading false information and conspiracy theories, from claims that the assassination was staged to accusations of the attempt by Italian journalist Marco Violi, whose photo appeared on the X platform with information that he was an "Antifa activist."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and political party leaders condemned the assassination attempt on the former US president. "It cannot be overstated – political violence is never acceptable. My thoughts are with former President Trump, those at the event, and all Americans," the Prime Minister wrote on X, describing the assassination attempt as a heinous act.