Politics

Age of Rage: UChicago Report Finds 30 Million Americans View Violence as Justified To Keep Trump from Power

I recently asked, in light of the free speech implications of the second federal Trump indictment, when the price is too high for those who seek to jail the former president. The chilling answer is found in a new report out of the University of Chicago showing that almost 12 percent of the population, representing 30 million people, believe that violence is warranted to prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. That is almost double the number who believe that violence is warranted to ensure that Trump does become president.

As discussed in The Guardian, the Chicago Project on Security & Threats survey found many Americans are embracing violence as an option for political change.

We have watched as rage has risen in the country. It is often celebrated by one side or the other. I previously discussed how a scene like the recent confrontation on the floor of the Tennessee House perfectly captured our “age of rage.” Protesters filled the capitol building to protest the failure to pass gun-control legislation. Three Democratic state representatives — Justin Jones from Nashville, Justin Pearson from Memphis, and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville — were unwilling to yield to the majority. They disrupted the floor proceedings with a bullhorn and screaming at their colleagues.

It is a scene familiar to many of us in academia, where events are regularly canceled by those who shout down others. The three members yelled “No action, no peace” and “Power to the people” as their colleagues objected to their stopping the legislative process. Undeterred, the three refused to allow “business as usual” to continue.

Nobel Laureate Albert Camus once said, “Insurrection is certainly not the sum total of human experience but … it is our historic reality.” Those words came to mind when Tennessee’s House of Representatives expelled two members accused of disrupting legislative proceedings in what some called an “insurrection” or a “mutiny.”

Only a few days before the Tennessee House floor fight, a confrontation occurred off the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington which captured perfectly this new political reality.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was shown on videotape screaming about gun control in the Capitol as his colleagues left the floor following a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), tried to calm Bowman. However, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked Bowman to stop yelling, Bowman shouted back: “I was screaming before you interrupted me” — which could go down as the epitaph for our age.

The problem is that political figures on both sides are attempting to harness this rage.  They are playing a dangerous game. Trump’s inflammatory tweets are an example. Likewise, former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence and its website was banned in Germany. His son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa as riots raged in his city last summer.

Unleashing such rage is difficult to control and often those leading the mob find themselves later pursued by it. This is why, during the French Revolution, the journalist Jacques Mallet Pan warned, “Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children.”

 

363 thoughts on “Age of Rage: UChicago Report Finds 30 Million Americans View Violence as Justified To Keep Trump from Power”

  1. Thirty Million…..or about Ten Percent of the US Population would commit violence to keep Trump from taking office?

    What kind of violence…..where would it take place….how would it be controlled or incited….who would be in the command nodes, planning nodes, and operational chain of command…..of these Leftist Thugs?

    More importantly…..what would be the reaction….would the US Military, National Guard, and Law Enforcement at all levels support and defend the Constitution that would see Trump as President if he wins the election?

    Would those threatened, endangered, harmed by the violent thugs just remain passive victims?

    I think not…..that would be the final straw that would bring on an old fashioned kind of thing that Jerry Clower talked about when he discussed cleaning up around the Corn Crib in his days.

    The Left best be careful or they will knock down a hornet’s nest on top of themselves should they commit general violence and riot over losing an election.

    The government would be in position of having to put down the violence or itself be seen as failing to defend the Constitution in such a brazen manner that it would fall.

    That certainly is not what anyone should want.

    2. That means they would face the 71 million who actually voted for him. And that includes massive numbers of veterans, law enforcement and ACTUAL trained warriors with huge stashes of firearms and ordinance training.
      Bring. It. Pussies.

      1. William,
        I get your sentiment.
        However, if something like a second civil war were to break out, there would be a whole lot of American’s who want nothing to do with it, would die even miles from a shot taken in anger.
        Something like a civil war and the entire supply and trucking industry would fail in the first few days. If you were a trucker, would you go into a city that is on fire, shots taken, or beat feet for home?
        Imagine no food deliveries, no Rx deliveries.
        And if some idiot either by accident or intentionally attacks the electrical grid and the power goes out for entire regions, a whole lot of people are going to die. History has shown us that in situations like that, more people will die of sanitation or lack of fresh water then starvation or fighting.
        Not good.

    3. Ralph Chappell,
      I have similar questions.
      Seems to me, based off the 2020 fiery but mostly peaceful Summer of Love, most of the violence would occur in those and similar cities.
      Would it spill out into the suburbs?
      What would DC look like? Not sure. Just recently the city council wanted to declare a state of emergency and get the NG deployed to get a handle of the crime that has risen there.
      I mentioned in a previous comment Nancy Pelosi saying the US would cease to exist if Trump were elected again. Would she, again, collude with senior US military officers?
      And would our adversaries take advantage of such a situation to their benefit?

  2. Trump Threatens Georgia Witness

    Former President Trump on Monday said former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) shouldn’t testify before a grand jury that is preparing to potentially indict Trump this week.

    “I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn’t,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4151692-trump-says-former-lt-governor-shouldnt-testify-in-georgia-election-tampering-probe/

    1. First question for Duncan: Did you authorize Fani Willis to prosecute these cases? The answer is no, so this is all illegal, since it falls under Duncan’s purview to prevent just these abuses of process.

      Notably, Duncan did not choose to prosecute. Surely he would have had there been a crime.

  3. Sadly, these 30-million are on the side that’s ENCOURAGED and ALLOWED to use violence.

    2. Snivel snivel, “It comes from both sides,” Turley says without any examples. Because it’s not true.

  4. NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD WEEK
    words and music by Tom Lehrer (1965)

    Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
    And the black folks hate the white folks.
    To hate all but the right folks
    Is an old established rule.

    But during National Brotherhood Week,
    National Brotherhood Week,
    Lena Home and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek. ·
    It’s fun to eulogize ·
    The people you despise,
    As long as you don’t let ’em in your school.

    Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
    And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
    All of my folks hate all of your folks,
    It’s American as apple pie.

    But during National Brotherhood Week,
    National Brotherhood Week,
    New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans ’cause it’s very chic.
    Step up and shake the hand
    Of someone you can’t stand.
    You can tolerate him if you try.

    Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
    And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
    And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
    And everybody hates the Jews.

    But during National Brotherhood Week,
    National Brotherhood Week,
    It’s National Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
    Be nice to people who
    Are inferior to you.
    It’s only for a week, so have no fear.
    Be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!

      1. “Lena Home” refers to black singer Lena Horne.

        “Sheriff Clarke” was a Selma AL police chief who used German Shepards and electric cattle prods on black civil rights demonstrators.

        As Mark Levin would say: “Thank me very much!!”

    2. Neither a Democrat nor Republican be
      For Republicans oft lose both friend
      and votes
      And, as always, Democrats
      dull the edge of husbandry

  5. Are we to believe anything coming from CPOST? They are bound to the left’s ideology. They boost that they have some 50,000 participates yet the polls I found cite 1,000 to 2,000 respondents. I’d say this is nothing more than a fear campaign to sway voter to avoid voting for President Trump, otherwise there could be chaos and violence the likes we haven’t seen since the 1860’s.

    The reprobates of academia, media, DC Swamp, and democratic officials casting aspersions of terrifying consequences if President Trump were reelected to office is a fabricated fantasy of prejudice against those opposed to their tyranny. The lefts continued indefatigable movement to dislodge law an order to gain power over this great country, at any cost, must be confronted as a menace to a sane society. This unprincipled movement is the greatest danger this county has seen where lies become truths regardless of facts. As Joseph Goebbels is quoted as saying “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus become vitally important for the State to use all of its power to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state”.

  6. Should the 30% resort to violence to keep Trump from power, is that insurrection or revolution? Or, will violence be called “mostly peaceful?

  7. What a coincidence! The total number of government employees and union members in the US totals about 30 million. Will U of C be doing a further breakdown to explore those segments of the population prone to such violence?

  8. Had Germans tried violence to stop Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, would that have ‘threatened Germany’s then-young democracy?

    The point is that Trump’s last presidency ended in violence. And we all know that a second Trump presidency would be a never-ending purge to root-out ‘deep state’.

    1. I seem to recall Trump’s presidency ended with Joe Biden inauguration surrounded by razor wire and NG troops.

      What is wrong with rooting out corruption?

  9. Posting something stupid just to get Dennis’ stupid comment down the board where it belongs.

    SOMETHING STUPID

  11. Jonathan: The U of Chicago report is revealing in many ways. The number of MAGA supporters who think violence is justified to restore DJT to power has increased by about 6 million to 18 million. Most these still think the 2020 election was “stolen” and that DJT’s recent criminal indictments are politically motivated. The bad news is that support for DJT among moderate Republicans has decreased. Not good news for DJT who is going to need every GOP vote to have any chance next year.

    Democrats also support the use of force–but for quite different reasons–to protect Black Americans, especially voting rights, to restore the federal right to abortion and to prevent DJT from becoming president again. So, yes, we have seen a radicalization among Americans.

    But the recent Tennessee House protest does not support what you say about the “new political reality”. That protest on the Tenn. House floor was not violent. It was a peaceful protest. The other cases you mention were also peaceful protests. The real violence is coming from DJT’s supporters. We saw it in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the threats of violence from the old man in Utah against Pres. Biden, VP Harris and the federal prosecutors. DJT is encouraging acts of violence when he declared “if you come after me we are coming after you”.

    Unfortunately, we will probably see other acts of violence in support of DJT when he goes to trial. That’s why Jack Smith now has a protective detail. The indictment of DJT down in Fulton County, Florida–probably to come sometime this week–will also involve threats or actual acts of violence. For months DJT has attacked DA Fani Willis–even bizarrely falsely claiming Willis has been sleeping with a gang leader. As a result Willis has received numerous death threats. That’s why Fulton County police have set up barricades around the court house. They take the threats seriously. The only guy who is inviting violence these days is DJT!

    1. “Democrats also support the use of force–but for quite different reasons–to protect Black Americans, especially voting rights, to restore the federal right to abortion and to prevent DJT from becoming president again.”

      “The only guy who is inviting violence these days is DJT!”

      Jeezus H Christ, you really should at least split your double speak into two separate posts. dumba$$.

      LMAO at the stupidity.

      Where is crude oil Gigi, to back you up??

      Hey Gigi, you still think Texas makes their electricity from crude oil???

    2. And then ATS gives a +100 to Dennis saying that Dems are all for violence, then saying DJT is the only one promoting violence.LMAO at ATS too

      1. In Dennis’s tiny little mind the logic is simple: if a Dem does it, it can’t be violence. If a Rep does it, it must be violence. Never mind what “it” is.

    4. Anonymous: Thx. But I made one slight error. It’s “Fulton County, GEORGIA–not Florida. My fact checker is on vacation.

  12. Re: censorship, rage, violence, “truth to power” and eyeroll…..👀
    It appears the CDC is finally admitting that post-COVID syndrome is caca. How many people did the Left cancel, destroy, defame or kill when others opposed their post-COVID dogmas? They do not care. The cult lives strong in them

    TL;DR: Leftists do not live by facts but by lies

    Prevalence of Symptoms ≤12 Months After Acute Illness, by COVID-19 Testing Status Among Adults — United States, December 2020–March 2023 Weekly / August 11, 2023 / 72(32);859–865

    Thus, these symptoms are not unique to COVID-19 or to post-COVID conditions.

    https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7232a2.htm

    Estovir Note: symptoms are self-reported, IOW, there have never been nor do any exist now, any objective diagnostic methods to prove post-COVID symptoms.

    Participants could report subsequent SARS-CoV-2 positive test results at each follow-up survey. Participants who completed baseline and 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-up surveys were included to facilitate distinguishing between emerging and ongoing symptoms. Outcomes included self-reported symptoms across eight symptom categories: 1) head, eyes, ears, nose, and throat (HEENT); 2) constitutional; 3) pulmonary; 4) musculoskeletal; 5) gastrointestinal; 6) cardiovascular; 7) cognitive difficulties; and 8) extreme fatigue (based on fatigue severity scales, which measure the occurrence and severity of eight symptoms associated with postinfectious syndrome; scores range from 10 to 80 and scores ≥25 correspond with previously established threshold for extreme fatigue).

    Extreme fatigue is what the Left have done to America. The Left = deadly virus

  13. Don’t you think maybe the high level of illegal immigration by people replacing citizen workers be a factor by keep wages below what a high school graduate can live on?
    Or the riots being unchallenged by police authorities. People want what the believe they can get, thus looting is de facto legal in some states, because someone chose not to enforce the law.
    99% of those 30 million people are going to need leaders, and those leaders are supplied by big money inside and outside of America. But the FBI is too busy chasing Catholics, parents of schoolchildren, and Biden’s political opponents to do anything meaningful.
    American adults are not in a happy place right now.

  14. The sooner you acknowledge that Trump is a criminal who tried to steal the 2020 Presidential Election, committing more felonies in the process than I have fingers and toes, the happier and more congruent with Reality you will become. Recognize self-deception, stop lying to yourself.

    2. I dont care about the 2020 election. It is done and over with.
      And the country is worse off for it with high inflation, gas prices, food prices, higher rent and more.
      We need to talk about the coming 2024 election whomever the candidates are.

      1. One can only hope the Polls are wrong and it’s not another Biden v Trump redux. I don’t think the country will tolerate that .. . or any part of it.

        For differing reasons, I would prefer any random citizen on the street outside my window.. . although at this point, between Trump v Biden, I believe Trump is definitely the ‘lesser of two evils’.
        (note. mainly because I vehemently oppose U.S. involvement in Ukraine, including Biden’s Holy Writ Sanctions regime .. . and believe few Americans understand the far-reaching implications, much less the catastrophic consequences, of the Biden gang idiot psychopaths.)

        *I would listen to a Ramaswamy/RFK jr. debate .. if we must include the Republicans and Democrats. .

      2. Inflation is down. 3.18%. Not high by any standard measure. Gas prices are higher because refineries are experiencing issues due to the record heat in Texas and other areas. They can’t operate as efficiently as they usually do with constant 100 degree days. Food prices have been going down.

        Republicans don’t want to talk about the economy. It’s not as problematic as they need it to be in order to use it as a campaign issue. That’s why they are sticking to the Hunter Biden “scandal”. It’s easier.

        1. 3.18%, makes it 10% over two years. GREAT economy. Far exceeding wage growth.

    3. @Acromioin,

      Now that’s funny.

      There are many instances of irregularities in the voting process.
      None of them fall back on the Republican side of the aisle.

  16. ATS
    I guess you need it spelled out more clearly. If the J6 rioters were serious, those gun owning rednecks would have brought their AR’s and tannerite. This was no coup or violent insurrection please stop with the breathless antics. In fact, it was “mostly peaceful”. Only a small percentage committed violent acts. You said yourself that protests that are “disruptive” are fine.
    The keystone cop response by the capitol “police” was a big factor. Opening doors, refusing to use non lethal weapons, ZERO warning shots (even though deadly force was used on an unarmed trespasser) what a joke of a response.

  17. In the title: “to Keep Trump for Power” or “from Power”? Are the violently predisposed wishing to keep him as a means to bolster their power? Boy, would that be an interesting twist! 🙂

      1. *Some* is a vague term. The number of people who advocate for violence to give Biden a second term far exceeds those who advocate for violence to put Trump in the White House. In other words, Democrats are much more likely to resort to violence to get their way.

  18. Now do you understand why we need censorship? Without it, the country will descend into violent chaos. That will not be good.

    2. Ah, yes. Much better to go full 1984 and let the government tell us what to think.
      Give up all your rights.

      1. There used to be good intellectual opinions on your articles, but more recently they have devolved into a mini-twitter session of idiocy. Sad state of affairs and one more example of why so many American citizens are actually relocating to other countries where non-violence and civility is respected, promoted and even relatively enforced by authorities. All to make one wonder if our American democratic society can survive.

  19. “12 percent of the population, representing 30 million people, believe that violence is warranted to prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. ”

    The left is violent, and such a percentage of violent people is dangerous to a free society. The American Revolution started with similar numbers.

    Today we see complaints of microaggression. A thinking person would recognize that such objections are ridiculous, but the left uses them to create violence in their ranks. The left’s word games exist to promote confusion and violence.

  20. I just woke up. I fell of my chair and knocked myself out when I read this story from The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/01/biden-said-his-son-earned-no-money-china-his-son-says-otherwise/. Is the wall protecting the Bidens finally crumbling to the ground. I’ll bet that if you interviewed the 12% who believe that violence would be justified you would find that they all believe Hunter never received a dime from the Chinese. We have several posters on this blog who believe the same thing. These posters on the left also believe that the 2020 George Floyd riots that killed nineteen people were justified. They should tell it to the loved ones of those who were murdered by their BLM and Antifa friends. This is who they are.

    1. How long were you asleep before you woke up and knocked yourself out? That WaPo story is two weeks old.
      Hopefully you won’t fall off your chair and knock yourself out again after you catch up on two-weeks-worth of news and find out that corrupt AG Garland appointed as “Special Counsel” the same corrupt joker that has been PRETENDING to investigate Hunter Biden for the last 5 years.

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