Hello and have a great Tuesday. We are 48 days away from the election, and yet another crazy person with a semi-automatic rifle has plunged us deeper into the quagmire of political turmoil.

Ryan Wesley Routh, who was spotted by Secret Service agents playing golf with Donald Trump at a Florida golf course over the weekend, was indicted on two firearms felony counts on Monday for allegedly plotting to assassinate the former president. Ironically, or perhaps sadly, at least one of the firearms felony counts will be subject to constitutional review in the wake of Trump's ultra-conservative Supreme Court majority. Gun control laws will be dysfunctional from 2022.

Meanwhile, the city of Springfield, Ohio, is under siege. Springfield is, of course, in the state of Senator J.D. Vance, who has spread a false story about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating people's pets. He has tossed more feces on the pile, claiming that these legal immigrants (and his own constituents) who have helped fuel the city's economy are also bringing disease and crime with them.

The result has been actual threats — 33 so far. By Monday, nearly two dozen facilities had been closed, evacuated, locked down or searched due to bomb and shooting threats, including City Hall, the Clark County Department of Family Services, the Clark County Board of Elections and at least nine schools and universities.

The Haitian community (and the black community in general) is scared, and things have gotten so bad. Governor Mike DeWine State police begin daily bomb sweeps at local schools.

All of this raises the question: should we just stay quiet for the sake of peace and security?

The violence isn't over yet

The bad news about the current political violence in the United States is that there is probably more of it to come.

Since Trump launched his white Christian nationalist campaign in 2016, stoking fears of a “great replacement” of white Americans with immigrants of color, violence has become inevitable. It was in 2018 that Trump called Haiti and other countries “shithole” nations and reportedly said, “Why do we need Haitians? Get rid of them.”

That actually seems mild by today's standards. Now he is blaming people, not nations — rapists, murderers, madmen, animals. He is treating it as a personal problem.

Eight years of demonization, dehumanization, desensitization and denial is a surefire way to turn ordinary people into political vigilantes, and Trump and his allies know how to serve up that hot meal of lies.

The goal is to create enough fear and anxiety to garner votes, but for some people, that fear seems beyond what a vote, for or against, can solve.

“It starts with the most vulnerable individuals looking for a reason to act,” says Monty Marshall, director of the Center for Systemic Peace, who studies how democracies rise and fall.

And indeed, we saw it. Remember David DePape in a hammer and unicorn costume in Nancy Pelosi's house?

These would-be assassins and attackers are largely amateurs with disorganized beliefs, lone wolves who are disenfranchised and confused by isolation long before they choose their target.

Mr. DePape bounced wildly between left and right, living in a garage on the fringes of society and swapping beliefs as often as they swapped underwear. Mr. Rouse was once a Trump supporter before becoming obsessed with the Ukraine conflict and even visiting the country on something of a self-imposed mission.

That doesn't make them any less dangerous — in fact, they are frightening because they are lonely and numerous. There are more of these men out there, and as pressures on democracy grow, so do the pressures on them.

But the Democratic Party

But Republicans have once again jumped at the opportunity to cast Democrats as the aggressors when it comes to inciting violence, demanding that Democrats stop calling President Trump a threat to democracy in light of two assassination attempts on him in recent weeks.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican, Georgia) “Jewish Space Laser” “The Democratic Party and their partners in the mainstream media are responsible for the assassination attempt on President Trump. Their words were clear: they are targeting President Trump and many are openly calling for his execution,” the Democrat who started the California wildfires posted on Page X on Monday.

Trump took a similar stance in a debate a few days ago, saying, “They talk about democracy. I'm a threat to democracy. They're a threat to democracy.”

But of course, Trump teeth He is a threat to democracy. He has repeatedly falsely claimed the last election was stolen, and is beginning to lay the groundwork to claim the election was stolen again if things don't go his way in November, before a single ballot has been counted.

The first time he tried to overturn the results of an election he had lost by force, he failed, he fumbled and failed, but as Marshall pointed out to me, most dictators fail on their first revolt; it's the second and third attempts that are worrying.

“Almost all of the people who have attempted successful coups have attempted coups before and failed,” Marshall said.

But the assassination attempt will put pressure on Democrats to analyze every word they say, because Democrats love to worry.

Trump, on the other hand, “is the only one who is constantly escalating his rhetoric to stay on the cutting edge,” Marshall told me.

So when MAGA Republicans call for calm, they are just trying to further sabotage Democrats with their own common sense, not to stop violence, because at the same time, MAGA Republicans continue to escalate lies like those told about Springfield.

“If I have to invent a story to actually bring attention to the suffering of the American people in the American media, then I'm going to do that,” Vance said recently on CNN, insisting that he didn't make up the story, just focus on it.

Meanwhile, eternal Trump tech pal Elon Musk tweeted, “Nobody is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” as if to pose a challenge. Musk later deleted the post and said it was a joke.

It wasn't funny, just as Vance's lies were unintentional. And this kind of two-pronged attack is dangerous, because it tells us that if we take it seriously, we are the problem.

But democracy is in danger, and polite silence will not save it.

What else to read

Must Read: FBI charges suspect with gun crimes, President Trump criticizes “Biden and Harris's words and actions”
Upside Down World: Trump uses harsh words to urge Democrats to tone it down
LA Times SpecialWho is Ryan Routh? What you need to know about the suspected assassination suspect

Stay golden,
Anita Chhabria

P.S.: You need to see this: If you haven't already, meet Mu Deng, the baby pygmy hippo that's become an internet sensation.

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