DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK

Amid rising threats, a £31million security package has now been introduced to keep MPs safe. With political assassinations, violence and disruption becoming commonplace in America, Britons are facing an increasingly fractured climate in the UK too

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Violence is already effectively normalised in American political culture. President Trump blatantly endorsed violence as a political solution when in one of his first acts as president this January, he pardoned 1,500 people charged in the seismic 2021 insurrection at the Capitol Building in Washington DC a protest inspired by Trump claiming the election had been "rigged" and "stolen".

He later called the protest "a day of love".

Following this week's political assassinations, Trump warned that "such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America", yet he has repeatedly urged physical violence against opponents.

He wanted the National Guard to shoot protesters outside the White House during his first term calmer heads thankfully prevailed and last week threatened a violent response against anyone protesting his birthday parade on Saturday that also celebrated the US Army's 250th birthday with a Soviet-style cavalcade of tanks, heavy artillery and troops.

He has proposed shooting shoplifters, called for his political opponents to be executed, and infamously refused to condemn white supremacist violence, telling the Proud Boys group to "stand back and stand by".

Threats against Congressional politicians soared last year to 9,000 incidents, the Capitol Police says, while the FBI investigated more than 1,000 threats against federal judges over the last five years.