As American politics have grown more feverish, the number of near-misses has been rising at a disturbing pace
in San Francisco when a man broke in through the back door of Nancy Pelosi’s home. “Where is Nancy?” he reportedly shouted. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, and her protective detail of Capitol Police, happened to be in Washington,. Unfortunately, her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, was at home. He was attacked with a hammer. The altercation ended with Mr Pelosi requiring surgery on his skull and right arm.
Increasing political violence is an inevitable consequence of increasing partisan loathing. In their recent book “Radical American Partisanship”, the political scientists Nathan Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason find eye-popping levels of rancour in their surveys. Nearly three-quarters of partisans view their opponents as threats to national security. A clear majority would label the other side as evil. As many as one in five Republicans express support for violence .
Political violence has not yet reached the heights seen in the 1960s, when public figures including President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King junior were assassinated. Perhaps that is because personal-protection teams are more effective now than then.