In a study from the University of California, Davis, nearly one in three respondents said violence was justified to advance political objectives, like stopping an election from being stolen, or to “preserve an American way of life I believe in.” That reflects a broader trend of rising support for political violence — something that has already had real consequences. In a 2021 survey, more than 80 percent of local officials in the U.S. said that they had been threatened or harassed. “A steady undercurrent of violence and physical risk has become a new normal,” says the New York Times. “Often masked by online anonymity and propelled by extreme political views, the barrage of menace has changed how public officials do their work, terrified their families and driven some from public life altogether.”
Reporters spoke to Joe Chimenti, a former chairman of the board of supervisors in Shasta County, who started getting death threats soon after he took office in 2019. A wave of anti-government sentiment began to engulf the county during the coronavirus pandemic, and grew after Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Chimenti, a Republican, chose not to run for a second term. “I got into this to make a difference,” he said, “but I thought, Why do I want to put up with this?” Natalie Adona, the Nevada County clerk and recorder, said her staff had become accustomed to confrontations with people menacing them over contentious issues like election results and public health mandates.“ A lot of what we have experienced falls into this gray area,” Adona said. “It makes you look over your shoulder.”