Trump shooting is latest in ‘very long’ global wave of political violence

The attempted assassination of former U.S. president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump marks the latest incident in an ever-growing wave of political violence worldwide that analysts believe won’t subside any time soon.

The shooting came after attempted and completed assassinations of politicians in Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Ecuador, Brazil and other countries over the past few years. Although the motivations behind those violent acts differ, they came amid a shared global environment of political polarization and dissatisfaction with political institutions at a time of rising inequality.

“This may be a wave, but it’s a very long one and it doesn’t seem to be in decline,” said Arie Perliger, a criminology professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.

On Tuesday, the director of the U.S. Secret Service resigned amid intense scrutiny over how the agency failed to prevent the shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Police services around the world charged with protecting politicians have been forced to re-evaluate their operations as threats increase.

The growing tide of online threats and acts of violence has prompted concern in Canada as well, including within the Canadian government.

Intelligence memos obtained by Global News note several high-profile incidents of political violence that have targeted elected officials abroad.

They include the June 2016 killing of British Labour MP Jo Cox, the October 2021 fatal stabbing of British Conservative MP David Amess and the July 2022 assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe’s assassination in particular highlighted a “continued threat to elected