Jan 3
Justifying Political Violence
Terry H. Schwadron
Jan. 3, 2021
Just in time for the Jan. 6 anniversary, we got a poll that shows that one in three Americans say violence against government can be justified.
Further, The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, reflects deep partisan division over what happened a year ago — despite the fact that we all watched it unfolding on television. There is the same divide over the degree to which Donald Trump and his Big Steal campaign bears responsibility for the Capitol riot.
Overall, the poll says democracy is in trouble. More directly, it says we cannot agree on what we see as being true. CBS News reported similar polling results.
That division over Jan. 6 increasingly is being depicted in news articles, op-eds, and commentaries as “just the beginning” of a continuing deterioration for our democratic republic. The combination of political tribalism, Trumpism and perceived “populism” among an assertive minority, racial and class tensions, the lack of agreed-upon national goals, our non-stop culture wars, and the economic and health uncertainties of covid are combining to underscore an explosive time for the country.
And apparently, a good chunk of the country says it is justifiable that the showdowns we will be facing should come with violence. This is not some wacky right-wing would-be leader we’re hearing from. It is from us, more than one-third of us whose various frustrations are warning out loud that we have had it and won’t stand for losing.
Weirdly, the poll comes as the congressional select committee on Jan. 6 is nearing both important clashes over records and testimony about what happened to bring the insurrection attempt about and public hearings to cap their 300 witness interviews and thousands of emails, calls and documents already in the committee’s investigative books.
Portending Trouble
What we can now take for granted are federal law enforcement and intelligence warnings that the Capitol and state buildings are under increased threat of rioting and violence, and that we have a public split by political affiliation about what they see as fueling the problems.
Where one side sees inequality and civil rights abuses as standardized, the other sees a threat to the health and dominance of a White American majority. Instead of focus on public health, we see distrust for anything out of the mouth of government about covid, masks and vaccines, and the perception of attack on parents who fear that their students might be exposed to books that reflect a different cultural outlook than they have experienced.
We have more op-eds like one this week in The Washington Post addressing the practicalities of state secession from the United States and a remaking of the country reflecting its differing paths. Every day now, we’re hearing more about coming primary elections that are sorting intraparty politics to advance only the most extreme candidates. We’re seeing wholesale Republican state efforts to limit voting rights in various ways that adversely affect voters of color presumed to be Democratic supporters as well as efforts by both parties to gerrymander districts to tailor results.
Justifying Violence
Still, it is the justification of violence that ought to be focusing our attention most.
The findings a year after a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol represent the largest share in more than two decades to feel that violence against government can be justified. As The Post noted, the results “offer a window into the country’s psyche at a tumultuous period in American history, marked by last year’s insurrection, the rise of Trump’s election claims as an energizing force on the right, deepening fissures over the government’s role in combating the pandemic, and mounting racial justice protests sparked by police killings of Black Americans.”
The percentage who says violence is justified is up from 23 percent in 2015 and 16 percent in 2010 in polls by CBS News and the New York Times. A majority continue to say that violence against the government is never justified — but the 62 percent who hold that view is a new low point, and a stark difference from the 1990s, when as many as 90 percent said violence was never justified, the poll shows.
Among Republicans, the number finding justification for violence was 40 percent, twice the rate of Democrats. Acceptance of violence against the government was higher among men, younger adults, and those with college degrees. There was also a racial gap, with 40 percent of White Americans saying such violence can be justified, compared with 18 percent of Black Americans. No one cross tabbed gun owners with justification of violence.
The reasons offered in an open question varied across a few frustrations from covid to loss of freedoms.
The Timing
As the congressional committee approaches public hearings about Jan. 6, the polls also are showing divides over exactly what people think happened a year ago and whether to blame those who organized, assembled, financed, or coordinated the riots or whether Trump was responsible for his role.
Overall, 60 percent of Americans say Trump bears either a “great deal” or a “good amount” of responsibility for the insurrection, but 72 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Trump voters say he bears “just some” responsibility or “none at all.” Overall, the Post-UMD survey finds that 68 percent of Americans say there is no solid evidence of widespread election fraud, but 30 percent say there is, with lopsided partisan divides.
Just yesterday, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, a member of the congressional Jan. 6 committee, told television audiences that the panel had “first-hand” testimony that during the attack, Trump’s daughter and then-senior adviser Ivanka Trump asked him to intervene but Trump demurred. Cheney has called this dereliction of duty and suggested it represents a federal crime as well as bad decision-making. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., committee chairman, on NBC Sunday that there was evidence of “communication” between members of Congress and rioted at the U.S. Capitol.
Since last year, Republican leaders and a compliant right-leaning media have continued to air arguments that reporting about Jan. 6 was overblown, that there was indeed widespread election fraud despite a lack of evidence, that the mob that day resembled ordinary tourists rather than attackers or a false-flag attack by leftists.
Trump, who is fighting turning over documents about his own role that day, argues that the rally preceding the riot was separate and unconnected to the violence that followed. In the poll, 54 percent characterize the protesters who entered the Capitol as “mostly violent,” while 19 percent call them “mostly peaceful” and another 27 percent say they were equally peaceful and violent.
If the televised hearings get underway, you wonder if Americans will hear the same testimony.
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