Columnist warns America is in the middle of a decade of 'dangerous instability'
The emerging political violence in the United States is indicative of a more serious threat to American democracy – and the country appears to have reached a turning point, wrote the Atlantic’s Stephen Marche.
With public attitudes toward once trusted national institutions declining, the tolerance for politically motivated violence is on the rise, according to Marche, who pointed to Trump’s promises of revenge following his reelection, and a trio of national horrors as proof that the country is in the midst of an “unprecedented phase” as we reach mid-decade.
“Terrorists and assassins are emerging from unexpected corners of society,” Marche wrote Monday. “Call it the burning ’20s: America is in the middle of a decade of dangerous instability.”
To illustrate his argument, Marche noted that the new year started off with two catastrophic events: the ramming attack on New Orleans’ famed French Quarter that killed at least 14 people, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at Trump International hotel in Las Vegas.
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Those two “spectacular horrors” coupled with the December assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson – and the subsequent lionizing of his suspected killer Luigi Mangione – “points to a fundamental change to America’s security situation,” according to Marche. All three men, who Marche referred to as “politically motivated perpetrators," appear to go against the typical pattern of what is commonly referred to as “lone wolves.”
But they do point to a greater problem in American society, he added
“When ordinary people feel that the system no longer offers solutions to their problems and instead removes justice and agency from their lives, violence begins to seem more and more justified,” Marche told readers. “Many experts identified 2008—the year of a global financial crisis—as a major turning point in public attitudes. I fear we have reached another.”
Marche concluded his opinion piece by warning that Trump’s selection of Kash Patel to lead to the FBI “seems likely to accelerate the cycle” of violence leading to institutional breakdown.
“The burning is under way; that much is already clear,” he wrote. “As faith in democracy decays, the result is radical unpredictability.”