{"id":112687,"date":"2021-02-13T10:16:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T10:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=112687"},"modified":"2021-02-13T10:16:41","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T10:16:41","slug":"donald-trumps-impeachment-legacy-violent-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/donald-trumps-impeachment-legacy-violent-extremism\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump\u2019s Impeachment Legacy: Violent Extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It was an extraordinary moment.<\/p>\n

As a mob of rioters stormed its way down the halls of the Senate, Officer Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police ran past Senator Mitt Romney, frantically directing him to seek cover. The former Republican presidential nominee broke into a sprint, taking off in the other direction. He most likely had reason to run: The day before, Trump supporters had heckled Mr. Romney on his way to Washington, chanting \u201ctraitor, traitor, traitor\u201d on a crowded plane.<\/p>\n

The world has seen so much footage from that painful day. But nearly all of it has focused on the attackers themselves. In the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, we saw a new angle: Members of Congress running for their lives.<\/p>\n

I heard nearly every moment of the trial, moving through my apartment as the hours passed. First in the living room, I watched it on television. Then from the kitchen, I listened to the radio while I made more coffee. And later on my computer in the bedroom once the kids came home, so I could avoid explaining why, exactly, those people were breaking windows with flagpoles and all the other questions that \u2014 despite the detailed presentation \u2014 I still couldn\u2019t answer with much confidence. Questions like, whether they will all go to jail and if everyone is really safe now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that last question that lingers. Mr. Trump seems poised to be acquitted. But does this unprecedented moment in American history mark the beginning of the end of a particularly violent era? Or the end of the beginning?<\/p>\n

In the trial, the House managers tried to show how things that once seemed extraordinary became standard political combat. Like chants of \u201cLock her up\u201d and violence at political protests \u2014 yes, on both the right and the left.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2017, it was unfathomable to many of us to think that Charlottesville could happen,\u201d Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, one of the Democratic House managers, told senators, arguing that acquitting Mr. Trump could encourage more violence. \u201cFrankly, what unfathomable horrors could await us if we do not stand up and say, \u2018No this is not America\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

But what if that question has already been answered? Whether or not Mr. Trump is convicted, the extremism that flourished under his administration has embedded itself in our politics.<\/p>\n

Robert Pape, a specialist in political violence at the University of Chicago, analyzed the backgrounds and statements of nearly 200 Capitol attackers. His analysis found that most were middle-aged and middle class or wealthier. Many had good jobs. Nearly all \u2014 89 percent \u2014 had no apparent affiliation with any known militant organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Capitol riot revealed a new force in American politics \u2014 not merely a mix of right-wing organizations, but a broader mass political movement that has violence at its core and draws strength even from places where Trump supporters are in the minority,\u201d he wrote in The Atlantic.<\/p>\n

The Trump Impeachment \u203a<\/h3>\n

What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n