'Threats of violence are becoming commonplace among a significant segment of the Republican Party': New York Times

The New York Times has written a lengthy report about how threats of violence have become a commonplace feature of Republican politics.

In addition to documenting the death threats that Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure deal have received, the report also shows how violent rhetoric has permeated throughout Republican campaign events and advertisements.

"At a conservative rally in western Idaho last month, a young man stepped up to a microphone to ask when he could start killing Democrats," the paper writes. "In Ohio, the leading candidate in the Republican primary for Senate blasted out a video urging Republicans to resist the 'tyranny' of a federal government that pushed them to wear masks and take F.D.A.-authorized vaccines."

In fact, the Times goes so far as to say that "threats of violence are becoming commonplace among a significant segment of the Republican Party."

Omar Wasow, a political scientist at Pomona College, tells the Times that violent rhetoric being embraced by a significant number of elected officials in a major political party is something he has never seen before in the United States.

"What's different about almost all those other events is that now, there's a partisan divide around the legitimacy of our political system," he said. "The elite endorsement of political violence from factions of the Republican Party is distinct for me from what we saw in the 1960s. Then, you didn't have — from a president on down — politicians calling citizens to engage in violent resistance."

The violent rhetoric comes in the context of the January 6th Capitol riots, as well as years of violent rhetoric from former President Donald Trump himself, who once urged supporters to "knock the crap" out of protesters during a rally.

Lee Drutman, a fellow at the left-leaning group New America, tells the Times that all of this bodes very ill for the 2024 presidential election.

"I have a hard time seeing how we have a peaceful 2024 election after everything that's happened now," he said. "I don't see the rhetoric turning down, I don't see the conflicts going away.