[Choi Junyoung's World+] Violence and American Politics: Democracy Faces Crisis Again

The Often Overlooked Violence in American Politics
Trump's Refusal to Accept the Last Election Result
Capitol Riot Marked the Peak of Political Tensions
Supporters Reject the Biden Administration
Some Justify Political Violence
Targets of Violence Now Include Election Workers and Judges,
Not Just Politicians

Choi Jun-young, Senior Advisor at Yulchon LLC (Global Legal Affairs and Policy)

The assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump on July 13 was the first gun assassination attempt on a sitting or former U.S. president in 40 years. Although shocking, assassinations have occurred multiple times in American politics.

President Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, and President James Garfield was assassinated in 1881. In the 20th century, President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, and President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. There have been many more assassination attempts on presidents. In 1933, there was an assassination attempt on President Franklin Roosevelt, and in 1975, President Gerald Ford narrowly escaped two assassination attempts. President Reagan was seriously wounded in a shooting in March 1981 but managed to recover. Looking beyond presidents to other politicians, incidents related to assassination are even more numerous. In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April, and Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June, leaving deep and lasting wounds on the American people.

Often overlooked, violence has been one of the characteristics of American politics. During the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, the American South demonstrated systematic deprivation of African American rights through institutionalized violence. The brutal attack by police and white mobs on nonviolent activists marching from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965, in support of the Voting Rights Act, known as the “Bloody Sunday incident,” shocked the world.

In the 21st century, violence has become more frequent. In 2011, Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was critically wounded in a shooting but survived miraculously. In October 2022, Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was severely injured in a home attack with a blunt weapon. The relationship between American politics and violence was dramatically revealed during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Over 1,400 people were arrested, and more than 500 have been sentenced to prison to date. Trump referred to those imprisoned as “hostages” and stated that if elected, he might pardon some of them.

Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after being shot during an election campaign event held on the 13th (local time) in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photo by AP and Yonhap News

Violence surrounding politics has recently expanded in various forms. The targets of violence in American politics have extended beyond politicians to elected officials, judges, and election workers. During the 2020 presidential election, there were cases of people showing up at counting centers armed with firearms, and concerns have been raised that violence related to vote counting could become visible in this year’s presidential election. If heavily armed militias gather near polling stations under the pretext of protecting voters, people are likely to give up voting.

To prevent this, all means deployed to protect the election process, such as mobilizing large-scale police and military forces, are likely to be perceived as aggressive acts by the opposing side. This could lead to a situation where actions to prevent what is seen as an attempt to steal election results are considered justified violence. The United States is caught in a dilemma. What makes the threat more serious is that core Trump supporters believe the Biden administration has hardly secured legitimacy. To them, all responses by the Biden administration are considered illegal.

A widespread distrust that “I cannot accept election results I do not want” is prevailing in American society. As the distorted perception that one’s will and intention were unfairly stolen during the election process spreads, everyone involved in these results is becoming a target of violence. In a joint poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos in May, two out of three Americans expressed concern that political violence could occur after the election, based on these grounds. Trump’s refusal to promise to accept election results has further fueled these concerns. Regarding the fairness of elections, only 47% of Republican supporters were confident in the accuracy and legality of election results, compared to 87% of Democratic supporters.

As political polarization deepens and distrust in the election system grows, elections become highly hostile environments. The opponent’s victory is seen as a fatal threat to oneself and the nation. This atmosphere evokes the possibility of a civil war in the United States, a theme once found in dystopian science fiction. Supporters of former President Trump openly state that the U.S. judicial system has been weaponized against the American people and cannot be followed, so they must solve problems themselves. According to a 2023 survey, 23% of Americans agreed with the statement that the situation is so bad that true patriots might have to rely on violence to save the country. Among gun owners, this tendency is even stronger. Forty-two percent of assault rifle owners said political violence could be justified, and 56% of those who carry firearms regularly agreed.

Generally, the crisis of democracy is known to be influenced by four factors: political polarization, conflicts over political community membership, high and increasing economic inequality, and excessive exercise of administrative power. The current situation in the United States is closely related to all of these. To resolve the problem, both Trump and Biden sides must actively call for unity and calm and express a clear intention not to want a terrible situation, but such signs are not yet prominent.

The possibility that the U.S. presidential election will demonstrate the resilience of American democracy and lead to unity and integration seems slim. Democracy, which faced crises between communism and fascism in the 1930s, is facing a crisis again.

Choi Jun-young, Specialist at Law Firm Yulchon (Global Law & Policy)