Opinion Forum, USA TODAY
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting now appears to be at least the third attempt on President Donald Trump’s life.
While political violence is not new to our country, the press gala shooting is part of a recent surge of political attacks that include the assassination of Democratic Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman, the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
So we asked you, our USA TODAY readers, what you thought were some of the reasons behind this destructive trend and how we could stop it.
It starts at the top, with Trump
I am concerned about rising political violence, though I am not worried about it in my day-to-day life. It all starts with President Donald Trump, who uses divisive language and childhood insults at the opposing parties. If we are going to to lower the temperature, it has to start with him.
He starts it all with his posts. Not every Democrat is an extremist. There is no accountability in this administration.
A way that we can stop the proliferation of political violence is through accountability. Words mean things. But I’m afraid this won’t happen because the Trump administration has no accountability or guard rails to ensure that happens – such as an independent Department of Justice, because it has been corrupted.
With the media, I think they must not give any credibility to obvious false stories. Even reporting them as false gives credibility.
— Matt LaChance, Virginia
Maybe every school needs a bunker ballroom
I am concerned, of course, with the rise in political violence. We see it on the news and try to believe it can never happen to us or our loved ones. But we have to be concerned because it can happen any time any where. I am not surprised. The world is in chaos.
What is contributing to that increase? Social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, blogs, podcasts, TikTok. All of it. The crazies are able to broadcast their hateful thoughts and influence the mentally unbalanced. That is it in a nutshell. Desperate times can cause an imbalanced person to react.
To stop it, I would end all social media. Close down Facebook and all the others. I would suggest the president stop his hateful speech. It is as if people are addicted to hateful and divisive speech – they get off on saying rude things on all the social media sites. People are so “brave” to denigrate other people and situations when they are somewhat anonymous on these sites. But it is the ones who are suffering from mental problems who can be influenced to cause harm.
Also, we could not defund mental health.
We could have a government that tries to bring people together, not divide them.
Social media has definitely made our political polarization and violent rhetoric worse. People feel free to say whatever they want under the disguise of their user names. There are some very hateful people out there. Then you have the podcasters who are always yelling (it seems) about how terrible different groups are. I think a lot of these social media podcasters are acting and don’t really mean what they say, but their listeners don’t all realize that.
I am not on any social media because I could not believe the hate from many, many people ‒ especially during President Barack Obama’s time. The vile things people would write about the Obamas caused me to stop any social media.
Because of all this, I don’t really discuss my opinions with others. Awareness is a protective measure.
Now Republican lawmakers are saying Trump needs a White House ballroom. Really? He will be gone in two years, so why? Maybe every school should have a bunker ballroom. Protecting schools from shooters is never something Republican lawmakers want to talk about for very long. Priorities?
— Joy Harris, California
Slow march toward a fascist coup
I’m not surprised with the surge in political violence. Attention paid to the details unfolding before us tell us all we need to know. I am very concerned – concerned because the United States of America is under attack from within by a tyrant and his sycophants who are in the midst of usurping our own federal government.
Those currently in control of the federal government are dismantling its institutions and fomenting violence in an attempt to recreate the conditions of the 1930s Weimar Republic – the slow march toward a fascist coup.
We can stop the proliferation of political violence – in part – by holding accountable and making illegal sophistry: deceptive argumentation and purposeful lying. The First Amendment does not protect hate speech. Why are we allowing blatant lies? Moreover, euphemisms do nothing more than insert ambiguity, corrupting and blurring the national discourse.
Bourgeois-centric corporate news media, namely those who embrace sophistry, lying, propping up and running interference for the owning class at the expense of the masses are at the very least aiding and abetting if not directly responsible for fomenting political violence through sophist rhetrickery.
Big Tech and surveillance capitalism by way of social media, or any means for that matter, has and continue to manipulate discourse, compromise the social contract and severely impinge upon the function of democracy itself. We are living in a fish tank, and the relationship between those inside and those outside looking in has never been more asymmetric.
To worry and ruminate is unhealthy, but to be oblivious is also unhealthy. Afterall, we were blessed with foresight for a reason. That said, the masses are being made to worry by way of tyranny, despotism and pernicious attacks upon the status quo. Every accusation is a confession. Awareness of the truth is the best protective measure.
— Trevor Mark, Minnesota
