How the United States Can Step Back from the Brink

As the 2020 election draws near in the United States, recent events point to how our polarized political process now runs the risk of spiraling into violence. Within the past week, Homeland Security listed white supremacist groups as the “most persistent and lethal” threat to security, members of a domestic militia trained in combat weapons were arrested for a plan to kidnap a governor for what they deemed as crimes against the constitution, and ambiguous messages came from President Trump about assuring a smooth election transition and about renouncing white supremacist groups. Further, recent research has found that one in five partisans believe violence would be at least “a little” justified if the other party won the 2020 presidential election while one in ten says there would be “a lot” or “a great deal” of justification for violence.

These are deeply troubling trends…