Where Next USA?

The sharp growth of politically motivated violence in the USA over last eight years ....

1899 Children Pledge of Allegiance
 - Frances Benjamin Johnston

.... shows that the USA is increasingly not one nation under god, but rather two hostile groups in one nation.

The latest in a string of violent attacks across the political divide is the killing of the right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, but the process was started by the attack on Republican congressmen practicing on a northern Virginia baseball field in 2017. 

This was followed a few years later by the attack on Nancy Pelosi and her husband. Of course Donald Trump was actually hit by a snipers bullet last year and earlier this year, two Democratic state legislators in Minnesota were shot in their homes, one fatally wounded.

The irony that Kirk had been answering a question about US gun violence at the time he was killed has not been lost on many commentators. "Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last ten years?" someone in the audience asked him. "Counting or not counting gang violence," he answered, before the single killing shot rang out and he slumped backward and the crowd scattered in panic.

To some extent, this US political violence mirrors an increasingly angry right v left clash across the democratic world, but of course, the access to guns in the USA means deaths and assassination attempts are more likely the end result.

At this juncture it's impossible to predict how this cycle of political violence is going to end, but end it has to, if the USA is to remain one nation. However, whilst the divisive figure of Donald Trump towers over the US political scene, this violent anger and division between left and right is only going to grow and fester over at least the next three years.

Even after he is gone from direct power, his influence will no doubt linger on in the Republican party and thus create tensions that may well fracture both the party or US politics for decades to come.

Americans often like to end political rallies with a chorus of god, bless America .... which given the current political state of the union, is probably going to a more heartfelt plea for many than in former times.