00:00I'm going to speak now to Todd Belt, director of the Political Management Program at the Graduate School of Political Management of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
00:08Thank you very much for joining us today, Todd.
00:10So, I mean, four U.S. presidents have been assassinated.
00:14At least seven others, either candidates or presidents, were shot at but survived,
00:18without mentioning the many lawmakers or other political figures like Charlie Kirk that have had attempts on their life.
00:24And yet, every time something like this happens, politicians, pundits are all rushing to say that this is not who or what America is.
00:32But, I mean, how true is that, given the reality of political violence in the United States?
00:37Well, thank you. It's good to be with you again.
00:40I wish that the situation were different.
00:43But, yes, this is who America is.
00:48This is not something where people say this is not who we are.
00:52We are deeply steeped in a lot of violence in this country, and it's really unfortunate.
01:00So, I mean, given that knowledge, when you hear experts or commentators talking about an increase in political violence,
01:09what do you think we're talking about concretely?
01:11Do you think that there has been a significant increase in political violence, and over how much time compared to when?
01:17Or is it that the perception of things are getting worse?
01:23Well, there has been an increase in political violence, and this has been pretty well documented.
01:28There's also been an eightfold increase in threats on legislators as tracked by the Capitol Police.
01:35That is, members of Congress have been threatened eight times more than before 2016 when Donald Trump ran for office.
01:42Now, we can't put this all at Donald Trump's feet, but he did throw gasoline on the fire.
01:47There has been, of course, violence in the past.
01:50There have been attempted assassinations in the Capitol.
01:53There has been fistfights in the Capitol.
01:56And, of course, we come to today where, I mean, we see there was an attempted attack on Nancy Pelosi.
02:01There was an assassination of a legislator in Minnesota.
02:05Those were not mentioned by the president.
02:07He's instead focusing on the attacks on his party.
02:10But it's really unfortunate that the number of people who respond to surveys who say that violence is acceptable in politics has increased as well.
02:20So there is something going on.
02:22This is not just a mirage or just greater reporting or just the fact people have cell phones these days and are seeing things going on.
02:30This is actually happening.
02:32You mentioned, I think, what could probably be summed up as simply selective outrage on the part of the president when it comes to talking about recent episodes of political violence.
02:41It's Donald Trump neglecting to mention that those that have targeted Democrats in recent months.
02:48I mean, everyone is trying to strike a balanced tone at this point in the United States.
02:53But do you think that the parties are equal when it comes to that the political factions in the United States, the right and the left, are equal when it comes to failing to do enough to denounce political violence or even encouraging political violence?
03:06Well, there always has to be more, apparently, I mean, because these lone wolves are taking their cues from the attacks that are going on by political figures.
03:18I mean, if you ask members of Congress who have recently left, they say it's because they have to attack the other party, even though they're friends with people across the aisle, because that is just the nature of politics today.
03:30And it makes it difficult to actually engage in the type of compromise and discussion and deliberation that is at the core of democracy.
03:39And so this is coming from the top.
03:41But again, you will see Republicans focusing on the mental health of people who engage in these things.
03:46And you will see the Democrats focusing on the easy access of guns in this country.
03:51We are the only country in the world where this happens on a very regular basis.
03:56And the number of episodes really outstrips any other country.
04:01And again, it's not just our politicians who are targeted.
04:03It's things that happen in schools.
04:05There are school shootings that happen every day, including yesterday when Charlie Kirk was shot.
04:11I mean, as someone that's been tracking American political life for a while, you mentioned guns there.
04:17Is this the guns or something deeper?
04:19I mean, the United States certainly is not the only country on Earth where people have access to guns,
04:24if nothing else, including nations that are literally at war, in states of war,
04:28where you don't necessarily see people walking into primary schools and gunning down five-year-olds.
04:34So, I mean, is there really something much deeper happening in the United States other than just access to guns
04:39that can explain the level of violence that we see today?
04:42Right. Well, we do have a greater access to guns here in the United States than any other country.
04:49It is enshrined in our Second Amendment, and a lot of people have made it their lives work to make sure people have easy,
04:55unfettered access to guns.
04:57Even the National Rifle Association came out the other day when there was someone who was a transsexual person
05:04who engaged in a gun crime, and they said, you know, we want everyone to have access to guns.
05:13But there is something different in the United States where we're seeing a lot more attacks on the other side.
05:19There's a culture war going on here in the United States that goes beyond our political war
05:24that we have between a very differentiated and hyper-partisan environment.
05:29Now, Donald Trump, sir, of course, blamed the radical left.
05:32This isn't the first time.
05:33But, I mean, who do you think that he is talking about?
05:35How much violence, at least recent violence in the United States,
05:38can be attributed with certainty to left-wing groups?
05:43Well, it's really difficult.
05:45I mean, as there's some studies that have been done by other independent groups
05:49that show that most of the political types of violence are directed by, I'm sorry,
05:56have come from right-wing individuals.
05:59However, there are some very high-profile ones from left-wing individuals, of course.
06:04Donald Trump being on the recipient side of one just last summer.
06:07And, of course, people can pick and choose the ones they want to highlight
06:11when it comes to having some anecdotal evidence.
06:15But it's really difficult to say that one side, I'm sorry, both sides are at blame
06:20because there's just so much more of a propensity on the Republican side
06:25to have access to guns, to use those guns, and to engage in these types of attacks.
06:30Your writing, of course, focuses on the mass media, public opinion, amongst other political themes.
06:36Do you think that there's shared societal responsibility for this violence,
06:39be it the president, lawmakers, local politicians, influencers, or the news media?
06:43I mean, is it fair to blame any group for what we see happening today?
06:48Well, the research on political violence in the media, looking at video games
06:54and looking at the desensitization from movies and television,
06:59hasn't been quite, you know, it hasn't really established a causal link.
07:05And that's difficult to say because there are so many things that go on in a person's world.
07:11I mean, we do know that these types of messages people get through media
07:16can be augmented by things that go on in everybody's life otherwise, right?
07:20If people have a sense of victimization, that is something that can really cause them to lash out.
07:26You know, there are other causes as well.
07:28But I don't think it's fair just to put the finger just on media,
07:32although, of course, we have a much more media-saturated environment with violence.
07:37And there's also been an increase in the coverage of violent crime in news media
07:43as violent crime has decreased and people's perceptions of being victims of violent crime has increased,
07:50which has led to a level of paranoia here in the United States.
07:54Todd Belt, director of the political management program
07:56at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.
07:59Thank you very much for joining us today.
08:01That's unfortunately all we have time for.
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