A congressman is shot by a rabid fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Angry Trump supporters crash a play depicting the murder of President Trump. A comedian releases photos of her holding a severed head that looks like Trump.
And that was just the last 30 days.
Yes, things are bad — and getting worse. The political climate grew angrier and angrier during the contentious election, and now, things are just getting out of hand.
If you think that, you have a lot of company. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans think the angry tone of politics is encouraging violence. Surprisingly — given that many of the latest examples are Democrat-on-Republican violence, Democrats are most likely to say so, reports CBS.
And while Congress and many observers called for a more civil tone to political debate in the wake of the events, Americans of all political leanings overwhelmingly say that the tone and level of civility in our political debates has been getting worse in recent years.
These views are largely the same across ideologies, too, as about two-thirds of liberals, conservatives and even more moderates feel things have gotten worse.
Three-quarters of Americans feel the current tone of politics and debate is encouraging violence among some people; Democrats are especially likely to say so. About a third of Americans consider the recent shooting of a Congressman and others a terrorist attack.
But importantly, Americans draw some distinctions between the political debate they decry, and the people themselves that hold opposing views. Most Republicans do not think of Democrats as threats to their way of life, but merely as people they disagree with on politics. Likewise, most Democrats feel the same about Republicans in this regard. There is a small core in each party, who do see other Americans across the political divide as threats to their way of life — but they are not the majority.
Given this, optimism still prevails, though not by a landslide. More believe that people of different political views are capable of working together than are pessimistic about the prospects.
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Daniel's new book explores the integral and fascinating role that politics will play in the end times.
He demonstrates that political philosophy is actually underpinned by biblcal principles and that by examining the political history of the past can give us a fascinating glimpse into how Biblical end times events will unfold.
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