Opinion: The threat of violence that could tear our country apart | CNN

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : Trump responded with what sounded like marching orders: "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," he instructed them.
55% : And it resonated because Trump is once again sending very clear signals that he endorses and even encourages political violence to support his cause.
52% : It resonated because it aligns with the Trump we have all come to know: a politician who has encouraged, promoted, justified and even praised political violence, as long as he sees it as a sign of support for him.
44% : Trump repeatedly has voiced support for those serving time -- "hostages," as he calls them -- for their roles in the deadly attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, which he once described as a "beautiful day.
42% : "This is for Trump," announced one man in Florida as he assaulted a Latino gas station attendant, for example.
41% : An expert on political violence, Kleinfeld said that "violence and threats against elected leaders are suppressing the emergence of a pro-democracy faction of the GOP.
39% : Dark clouds were gathering long before Jan. 6, most ominously during a 2020 presidential debate when Trump was asked if he would condemn White supremacists, specifically the Proud Boys.
36% : Emotions are the stock-in-trade of demagogues, and Trump is a master at manipulating them, including with calls for violence.
35% : Trump's adamant refusal to reject political violence strongly suggests that his choice of language is a deliberate tactic.
27% : And after Trump lambasted Maine's secretary of state and Colorado's Supreme Court for declaring him unqualified to be on their ballot, his backers launched a barrage of death threats against them.
22% : Trump is creating the conditions for an explosion of political violence -- even if he's not a dictator yet and even if he doesn't have authority over Seal Team 6.
21% : Biden, he said, ordered special counsel Jack Smith to, "try, convict, and sentence Donald Trump to jail before the November 2024 election."
19% : After Tuesday's hearing, Trump appeared to threaten more unrest if he loses.
19% : Police recently rushed to the home of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over the subversion case against Trump, in a swatting attack.
18% : And as the election draws nearer and his legal troubles loom ever larger, Trump is refusing to condemn political violence -- part of an apparent strategy to return to the White House instead of landing in prison.
17% : " If more Republicans were willing to speak out against Trump, to forcefully acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election, that his phony claims that legal cases against him are politically motivated are lies, then more Republican voters might be persuaded.
8% : As he leaves the door open to political violence, Trump recently sent an email to supporters falsely accusing Biden of a most egregious crime.

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