Why the attack on Donald Trump reflects endemic violence in the United States

Source: French to English Tester   Published on: 2026-04-28

Source: The Conversation – in French– By James Piazza, Liberal Arts Professor of Political Science, Penn State

On April 25, 2026 at the Washington Hilton, during the dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association,Donald Trump faced a threat of aggression. The precise details surrounding the incursion of an armed man remain unclear.
As the investigation progresses, Alfonso Serrano, editor-in-chief of the politics and society section ofThe Conversationin the United States, questioned James Piazza,specialist in political violenceAt Penn State, to understand the roots of this American phenomenon and possible solutions.

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This is not the first time Trump has faced political violence. What does this latest attack reveal?

She especially highlights the extreme dangerousness of the American political climate. For several years — and certainly since January 6, 2021 (the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, editor’s note) – the country is experiencing a period of renewed political violence, defined as violence motivated by a political purpose or aimed at conveying a partisan message. The work ofPolarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Labhave confirmed thisupward trend. Several recent examples come to mind:the Capitol invasionA; the multiplesattempted assassination against President Trump (in 2016; in July and September 2024; then in February 2026, editor’s note)Ah; the murders ofMinnesota legislators Melissa Hortman and John HoffmanÀ ; the aggression ofPaul Pelosi ; theassassination of Charlie Kirk. In my home state, Pennsylvania,Democratic governor Josh Shapiro was targetedby arson at his residence.

What explains this surge in political violence striking the United States?

Several factors contribute to the political violence currently occurring in the United States,according to my researchand those of other researchers. The United States is now politically very polarized:a divide is growing between the Americansaccording to their partisan allegiance. They distrust one another, show hostility, and this creates a tense and unstable climate where each election takes on the appearance of an existential confrontation, in a “zero-sum” game.

What strikes me particularly is themoral dimension of this polarization. Champ camp no longer considers the other as holding a different opinion, but rather asmalevolent or immoral. This environment has led to anormalization of political violenceand hasweakened the negative reaction of the public when it occurs, making this more likely.

Moreover, political rhetoric has become much more divisive and violent by nature. This phenomenon ranges frompaired with polarizationand further contributes to normalizing political violence. Especially when politicians resort to demonizing rhetoric ordehumanizing to attack their opponents– for example, by using words thatdepict their opponents as “subhumans”. These are practices thatencourage extremismand contribute to inciting the passage to physical action.

Disinformation is also a major factorof political violence. A number of people involved in recent acts of political violence appear to have beenmotivated by conspiracy theoriesand other forms of disinformation, often gathered from social networks. Disinformation plays a particularly important role in the context ofsocial network communities, where people are exposed to large amounts of misinformation and are hermetically sealed off from other sources that might challenge their worldview – which facilitates radicalization and, in some cases, fuels political violence.

Finally, I think another important factor lies inthe current attack on democratic normsand institutions in the United States. American democracy is under unprecedented pressure in the modern era, which directly affects Americans’ trust in the government, in democratic institutions, and in the very value of the democratic regime. My work shows that people skeptical about democracy are much more willing toto tolerate, even support, political violence.

**How does this wave of political violence differ from other periods of violence in United States history?

If the United States is currently experiencing a resurgence of political violence, it is unfortunately not without precedent. One can think of the period of intense polarization in the 1850s,the dawn of the Civil War. At that time, there was a marked division between abolitionists and supporters of slavery, leading to political assassinations, the assault of an abolitionist member of Congress by a pro-slavery member of Congress, and a bloody civil conflict in Kansas between armed pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups. At the beginning of the 20th^eIn the century after the First World War, a new resurgence of thepolitical violence related to social conflictsand that committed by thesecond generation of the Ku Klux Klan. Finally, the 1960s experienced a period of intense political violence around the opposition to the Vietnam War and torejection of the civil rights movement. Even if today’s political violence presents certain specific characteristics – notably the influence of social networks – I think we can find parallels with these early periods of political violence.

Finally, what can we take away from this episode?

I believe it is essential that political leaders, both Democrats and Republicans — or whatever their side — unite to condemn this attack and all forms of political violence, and that commentators and influencers do the same.

Researchers extensively show that what political elites (politicians, political leaders, media commentators, online influencers) say following this kind of event has aconsiderable effect on citizens’ attitudes. If this message is unified and comes from across the political spectrum, it will contribute all the more to reducing the state of mind that fuels violence.

James Piazza does not work for, advise, own shares in, receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no other affiliations than his research institution.

–ref. Why the attack against Donald Trump reflects endemic violence in the United States –https://theconversation.com/why-the-attack-against-donald-trump-is-a-reflection-of-endemic-violence-in-the-united-states-281677