America’s Quiet March Toward Political Extremism

Our republic will be stronger if we choose to bury the hatchet instead of burning the bridge.

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About the Author

Julian is a columnist for Reality’s Last Stand and a member of the Braver Angels media team. He’s also the founder of Heal the West, a Substack movement dedicated to combating illiberalism via spiritual formation and rebuilding the American community.

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Political violence in America is rising—and it’s becoming disturbingly easy to ignore. Writing in Persuasion, conflict researcher Amanda Ripley recounts a string of incidents against public officials just this year:

Last week in Alvarado, Texas, ten people were charged with attempted murder after a police officer was shot in the neck outside an ICE detention center on July 4. In Minnesota last month, a man was charged with stalking and murdering state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband before shooting and wounding state Senator John Hoffman and his wife. In April, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro had to flee his burning home with his wife and children after an arson attack. In January, a man armed with a handgun made it past security and took a tour of the U.S. Capitol before being arrested. In the first five months of this year, according to the Threats and Harassment Dataset at the Bridging Divides Initiative, local officials reported more than 200 threats or harassment incidents. Meanwhile, threats against federal judges spiked in March and April, around the same time that President Donald Trump and his allies began blaming judges for blocking the administration’s agenda.

Any one of these events should dominate headlines. Instead, they flash briefly across our screens—if at all—before vanishing into the churn of the news cycle. We’ve grown so accustomed to political hostility that even attempted assassinations barely register.

Why is this happening?