Saturday was a surreal day in American politics, in ways simultaneously horrifying and heartening. The horrifying part was the news we all woke up to about the political assassinations (both attempted and consummated) in Minnesota. The heartening was the millions who showed up for the nationwide No Kings marches, which probably made June 14, 2025, the largest single day of political protest in American history. Somewhere in between was Donald Trump’s poorly attended military parade, which turned out to be more troubling in conception than execution, but which nevertheless did not rest comfortably, to put it mildly, within the tradition of the military not being exploited by presidents for political purposes.

Add them all up, though, and throw in the manhandling late last week of a United States senator and the sneering reaction to it on the right, and you can’t help but feel that the country is coming further apart and lurching toward a state of violence—specifically political violence—not seen here since the 1970s.

There’s a difference, though, between the violence of that era and today’s, and it’s an important one to understand. Back then, it felt aberrational and temporary; like America was going through a generational convulsion over some specific issues (civil rights, Vietnam) and that matters would........

© New Republic