Armed men in bulletproof vests guard outdoor early voting drop boxes in Arizona, taking photos and videos of some voters and even following them. Sometimes they also go after polling station employees. Complaints arise and the police and justice deal with the situation, but the invocation of the first amendment on freedom of expression and assembly by the control groups, one of them linked to the violent ultras of the assault on the Capitol on September 6 January 2021, the Oath Keepers, makes it difficult to take strong action. In the end, the vigilantes are forced to keep their distance and cease their harassment.
The issue is not new. In the last two years, hundreds of employees of electoral bodies in half the country have abandoned their posts after a wave of threats, often death threats, under false accusations of past attempts or future plans of fraud.
According to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, one in six election officials has suffered such threats – half the time in person and not just by phone or online – since the presidential election of the 2020. From then until last spring, the Justice Department received reports of more than 850 intimidation attempts. The researchers discovered, however, that more than half of the cases of threats had not been reported, so the real figures for this form of political bullying must be much higher.
Meanwhile, the Capitol police can't cope with investigating intimidating calls and messages against members of Congress, which between 2016 and the last year have multiplied by more than ten, going from 902 to 9,600. The big jump occurred in 2017, the first year under Trump's mandate, when the threats went from those 902 to no less than 3,939.
Sometimes, the notices go to majors. The latest case was reported Thursday, when Republican House candidate Pat Harrigan of North Carolina reported a shot was fired at his parents' home. The bullet broke the glass of a bathroom, but did not hurt anyone.
As you can see, the attack with a hammer that the supporter of the trumpist conspiracy theories David DePape perpetrated against Paul Pelosi on October 28, with his declared intention being to break the legs of the president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, It is not an isolated incident. Political violence in the United States, which today celebrates its mid-term elections, is a palpable reality that most citizens of the country fear, but a significant minority encourages and a not insignificant proportion justifies.
According to a survey by the Davis public university in California, four out of ten Americans believe that "having a strong leader for the country is more important than having a democracy", and 40% also consider that "white natives of the United States The US are being replaced by immigrants.” In addition, 78% of the population believe that the use of violence may be justified on some occasions to achieve one or more essential political objectives. Within this group, 12.2% say they are willing to commit political violence on their own “to threaten or intimidate a person”; 10.4% "to hurt someone" and 7.1% "to kill a person".
The invitations to political bullying have not stopped on the eve of the midterm this Tuesday. At his penultimate campaign rally, held on Sunday in Miami, Donald Trump shamelessly mocked what he called "crazy Nancy Pelosi" for the umpteenth time. “Once and for all we will end her career,” he said, adding, “By the way, how is Nancy Pelosi doing lately?” Many of her followers responded with cheers and thumbs down as they shouted, “Lock her up, lock her up!”
At his own Sunday rally in New York, President Joe Biden assured that never in his 50-year career, until now, had he seen "violence come to be glorified based on political preference." Facts and data show that he was not exaggerating.
