The U.S. has had a long history of political violence, but experts see a new trend

Just days before the apparent second attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Colin Clarke gathered in New York with experts for a global summit on counterterrorism and political violence.

Clarke, director of research at a security and intelligence consulting firm called the Soufan Group, said a feeling of dread was shared even then.

“There's a real sense of urgency and concern that we are going to see more political violence surrounding this upcoming election,” he said.

This weekend’s events have only compounded that sense of foreboding.

On Sunday, 58-year old Ryan Routh allegedly tried to assassinate the former president while he was golfing at his Florida club. Routh appeared in federal court on Monday, but so far, law enforcement authorities have not disclosed a known motive behind the episode. Nonetheless, the incident has intensified concerns over the growth of political violence in the U.S., and the likelihood of it worsening in the remaining weeks before the election.

“I'm very pessimistic about where we're heading in the lead-up to November,” said Clarke.

Uptick in political violence

The U.S. has a long history of political violence, but multiple sources suggest that the scope and frequency of political harassment, threats and violence are reaching new levels. Gary LaFree, a criminology professor at the University of Maryland and former director of the UMD National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START Center), said that the center’s data indicate that the trend began almost a decade ago.

One database, which tracks incidents of terrorism across the globe, shows that the 1970s were a high water mark for political violence in the U.S. A wide range of groups committed criminal acts