There is an atmosphere of fear in the United States, says Oscar Winberg, a researcher familiar with the country’s political violence.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was apparently the target of another assassination attempt.
Trump was playing golf when Secret Service agents spotted an armed man about 350 to 500 meters away from Trump. The police later caught the 58-year-old man who ran away.
Research doctor who studied political violence in the United States Oscar Winberg The University of Turku says that political tensions in the United States are dangerously high.
– The temperature of the political debate is currently too high in the United States and this creates an atmosphere of fear, Winberg said on Ylen’s Ykkösaamu.
There was also an attempt to assassinate Trump at a campaign event in July. At that time, a bullet pierced the ear of the presidential candidate who was giving a speech.
After the assassination attempt, Trump’s approval ratings rose.
Winberg won’t comment on whether the recent incident will have a similar effect.
– It is important not to see this as part of the election campaign, but to understand that this is not part of politics and this is condemned.
Democratic presidential candidate Terrible Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz condemned what happened quickly.
Researcher: Democrats can also be targeted
Winberg considers it possible that the democrats can also become the target of political violence.
– I already warned in July that this could lead to a cycle of revenge, attempted murders and one-person terrorist attacks.
Winberg says research shows that violence breeds violence.
– When people feel that the other party is already violent, political violence as revenge is much more accepted.
– This is not the only example of political violence in the coming years in the United States. The letter bombs that were sent to the Democrats and the media, as well as the attack on the speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, immediately come to mind. Nancy Pelosi home.
In addition to this, Winberg also mentions, for example, the plans of the governor of Michigan by Gretchen Witmer for kidnapping.
Winberg does not believe that tensions will decrease before the presidential elections in November.
– Emotions run high in the United States. I don’t see that we would sit down and have a reasonable discussion about it now. More than that, I see that this will result in a media spectacle and the political rhetoric will only get hotter and hotter.