US Elections Turn Violent

• 03.15.2016, 19:18
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Analytics

As the first stage of the US elections - primaries, come to its end, the tensions increase and the Americans once more face the danger of having another violent elections like in 1968, when Republican Nixon won the Democrat nominee Hubert Humphrey.

On Friday, during the Trump’s Chicago rally the supporters of Trump and the ones opposing him clashed during the candidate’s Chicago rally. The protesters, mainly Afro-Americans and Latinos angered by Trump's anti-immigrant stance,  chanted "We dumped Trump! We dumped Trump!" while the supporters – "We want Trump! We want Trump!"

As it usually happens, after this incident Democrats and Republicans (supporting Trump) started to blame each other for inflicting violence. However  as in almost every case there are no absolute guilty or innocent ones. To make the picture clearer let's consider some important facts.

If we draw parallels between the current developments and the ones in 1968 presidential elections in the US we will have quite an interesting picture. First, it is not by chance that in both cases the epicenter of the events was Chicago with diverse population as "whites", African Americans, etc. Places with such diverse population are too vulnerable to any demonstration of discrimination that like a spark kindles a fire. 

Second, it is not by chance either that the Republican candidate Donald Trump uses the term "Silent Majority" for his target voters,  Nixon did during the elections of his time. The so-called "Silent Majority" is  the US "white residents", who are prone to think that because of the "black people" they are discriminated in their own country.  In other words Trump uses Republicans’ Southern Strategy (used by Nixon as well) to gain the support of the Southern states by appealing to discrimination against African Americans; the strategy that cannot but infiltrate violence that we faced recently.   

In spite of the fact that Republicans, particularly, Trump seem to be the main responsible ones for such a violent turnout in the current elections, it would be naive to call Democrats completely blameless. After the violence unfolded in Chicago, Ilya Sheyman director of MoveOn.org Political Action  (financed by Soros Foundation), took responsibility for the violence and promised that such violence will accompany Trump throughout his whole campaign. The picture becomes clear when we remember that the Soros foundation continuously supported the Democrat candidates during the US previous elections, for example, during the current elections the foundation gave nearly 8 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, a "super PAC" supporting Hillary Clinton.

Thus to sum up, it should be noted that both of the parties seem to have their share of responsibility in infuriating unrest among the voters which tends to further deepen the existing division among the US residents. The situation is like playing with a fire, the results of which in the long-term perspective cannot be in the interests of neither of the parties. Even if in the short-term perspective either of the parties manages to win the elections using racism as a playing card, the history of America shows that in the long term perspective it further deepens the existing division in the society.