Commentary: America’s hidden political divisions pose a danger to everyone

It was unfortunate but not surprising that tragedy struck last Saturday at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. While the nation could breathe a sigh of relief that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was only slightly injured in an assassination attempt, it was also mourned by the death of a rallygoer and the injuries of two others.

The United States has a sad history of presidential assassinations, notably John F. Kennedy in 1962 and Abraham Lincoln in 1865, as well as assassination attempts, including those of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. Also notable are the 1968 assassinations of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

Although threats against presidential candidates and presidents have been reported since the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, the growing role of the Secret Service in protecting candidates and presidents has made assassinations or attempted assassinations less likely.

But since 2008, the relatively tolerant political environment in the United States has begun to deteriorate and serious divisions have emerged. The leaders and supporters of the two major political parties seem to have become mortal enemies and unable to find common ground.

The political divide is growing wider every day, marked by mean, vitriolic, confrontational rhetoric that some fear will plunge the country into another civil war. Several violent incidents have characterized the sharp political divide in recent years. They included a 2017 attack on a Republican congressional baseball practice by a gunman in Virginia; a failed plan to kidnap Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020; a violent attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by a hammer-wielding intruder at their home in San Francisco in 2022; and, most infamously, a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 to prevent the certification of President Biden’s November 2020 presidential election victory.

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This fierce political divide has permeated almost all areas of American society and has even torn families apart. A recent report showed that a couple (both Republicans) refused to attend the wedding of their only child and daughter because she was going to marry a well-known Democratic activist. This sharp, chasm-like division, characterized by the two parties’ sharp rhetoric against each other, is like a fuse that can detonate a powerful political and civil bomb at any time.

Concerns about violence against both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have been expressed in conversations across the United States. That fear became a reality in Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Fortunately, the outcome was not so deadly for Trump, his presidential campaign, and the country as a whole.

The increasingly sharp divisions, vicious rhetoric, and omnipresent threats of violence in U.S. politics have frustrated Caribbean immigrants, especially those who left countries like Jamaica in the 1970s, when similar tribal-style political divisions and related violence invaded their once peaceful environment. After arriving in the United States in the late 1970s, Caribbean immigrants were impressed by the relatively peaceful way presidential and other elections were conducted. There was little evidence of political divisions, with neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family members becoming enemies because of their support for different political parties.

But all that calm is gone. American politics now resemble the politics of many third-world countries that immigrants flee.

There was a time when supporters of any political party would proudly wear bumper stickers supporting their party and presidential candidate. Today, the bitter divisions in American politics make such stickers a real risk of sparking violent rebellion. Political bumper stickers are now almost nonexistent.

Clearly, something must be done to heal America’s political divide and quell the vitriol that has driven hostility between people because of their support for different parties and candidates. In the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump, several quarters, including President Biden, seemed to be united in their calls for calm and unity.

But the reality is that political divisions may be too entrenched to allow for such calm and unity. Saturday’s event may not stop the rancor because, instead of focusing on debating policies that matter to American voters, the presidential candidates and their supporters are focused on personal attacks. There are concerns that violent attacks on Trump could spark violence against Biden’s campaign.

As early as Saturday night, prominent Trump supporters blamed Biden’s campaign rhetoric for sparking attacks on Trump. The worry is that with more than three months to go until Election Day, the true tempo of the presidential campaign has yet to peak. As the tempo peaks, divisions are likely to widen and the potential for political violence will increase.

Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of every American citizen to ensure that such violence does not occur. It is also the responsibility of the presidential candidates and their respective campaigns to tone down the rhetoric, stop the personal attacks, and focus on key policy issues.