Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump looks at the crowd after speaking at a campaign event at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Ed Fry Arena, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, in Indiana, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Americans should prepare for “unrest’ if former President Donald Trump completes the greatest political comeback in modern American politics, Democrats told the Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The potential for Democrats to perpetrate political violence undermines their narrative that Republicans, and especially the America First movement, are a threat to democracy.
“I think there’ll be some violence. I think there’ll be workplace fights. There’ll be fights at kids’ birthday parties. I think they’ll be protests and will turn violent,” Mark Halperin recently told Tucker Carlson.
Across America, more than a dozen progressives in various positions of influence told The Wall Street Journal that they are dreading the prospect of Trump’s return to power, and dismayed that half the country might see a completely different reality than they see. Some are bracing for unrest. On a recent evening, more than 200 people joined a Zoom meeting titled Mass Training For Women’s Safety Teams—hosted by a Women’s March veteran who noted its timing amid “escalating political violence.”
Others are channeling their nervousness into action: They are planning to attend Women’s Marches scheduled in Washington and beyond on the Saturday before the election. In Boston, they are joining pill-packing parties, where volunteers fill boxes with abortion kits to mail to women in red states with strict limits. “We feel like we’re doing something,” said Erin Gately, a 47-year-old physician assistant who last time took to the streets to protest after Trump’s election, but says this time she would focus on tangible actions like protecting reproductive rights.
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Laurie Woodward García, a South Florida activist, founded People Power United during Trump’s presidency to champion progressive causes, and, in her words, “stand up to fascism.” Her biweekly online seminars, some scheduled for after the election, explore the consequences if a President Trump were to enact Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda he has distanced himself from. Each session has drawn about 500 viewers.
“We’ve looked at different countries,” Melissa Fiero, a Democrat activist told the Journal. “I really think it’s going to be that bad if he wins.”
Halperin described how some Democrats might react, outside of violence, if Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris. “It will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country,” Halperin told Carlson:
I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future for them and their children could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it’ll lead to trauma in the workplace, … I think there’ll be alcoholism. There’ll be broken marriages: