As all of my friends know, I’m a political junkie. Each day, I wake up excited—not because I’m naturally an upbeat person, but because I know there’s a new episode of The Daily from The New York Times waiting for me to listen to. I recently put on a new episode and was not happy to hear the hosts describing the inevitability of “outbreaks of political violence” if Donald Trump loses on November 5th. I understand how some people have arrived at this conclusion. But I also don’t accept that conclusion, and the rest of us shouldn’t either.
I joined BridgeUSA as a freshman in college. Joe Biden had taken office just a few months prior and the investigations into the capitol riot on January 6th had just gotten into full swing. At my BridgeUSA chapter in Florida, it was the main topic of interest. Indeed, it was a terrible day, as was the day after the 2016 election when millions of dollars’ worth of damage was the result of anti-Trump sentiment. We’ve gotten used to the anger and bitterness in the leadup to our national elections. What’s much worse is that it feels like we are now starting to get used to violence and fear.