Reem Issa
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Potential Elections Violence on the Threshold of US Election Day
Today, 3 November 2020, is expected to witness “historical” elections in the US, and the few days leading to it are indicative thereof. Perhaps the key word in the matter is the reflection of the general world scene, including the change that the world order is undergoing, more than ever in the US.
In recent history of US presidential elections there have been none as close to these with regards to the intensity, polarization, and division among Americans. This is a reflection of the severe polarization in rhetoric of the candidates of the two parties dominating the political scene in the US, reaching public threats by Trump with woes and destruction if he loses the elections. The rhetoric, which at times has risen to the level of directly inciting speech, has succeeded in dividing and distracting the majority of Americans from the important issues, but more importantly has heightened the division to a point that can fuel violence, which no one can predict where it goes with the US leading the world in number of civilians owning firearms (125 per 100 civilians).
The expectation of the violence is very high based on at least the following:
- Prior to election day, close to 100 million Americans have used early voting to cast their ballots, this is significant compared to the 2016 elections where that number was about 47 million and the total number of votes was close to 139 million. While this number is indicative of the intensity of these elections with totals expected to be one of the highest in recent history, some speculate that one of the reasons for some people resorting to early voting is to avoid being at polling centers on election day out of fear of violence breaking out between Trump and Biden supporters.
- Throughout the US, stores, corporate buildings, and even some residential buildings started a few days before election day boarding up windows in anticipation of violence on and following election day.
- The day before election day, a non-scalable fence was being erected all around the perimeter of the White House to fend off any protestors, in addition to having National Guard troops on standby in Washington, ready to be deployed to secure the area, if needed.
At a time when the rift within the US is at unprecedented levels, violence can only deepen that rift, and lead to more clashes not only among Americans, but also by the state against the people, and will be the perfect pretext to legitimize blatant infringement of citizens’ privacy and rights, including what seems to be the beginnings of a new wave of McCarthyism, and perhaps beyond that, omens of a civil war.
