America is burning with political violence. It’s a fire that Trump keeps stoking

Updated April 26, 2026 — 3:00pm,first published 2:58pm

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The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a fixture of the Washington calendar — perhaps the only night where every corner of the political spectrum gathers to celebrate free speech. Its centrepiece is a roast of the president: proof that no citizen, however powerful, stands above any other. The office may command respect, but its occupant can be lampooned like anyone else.

Even for just one night, it reminds the American political world that the free flow of ideas matters more than the ego or office of any individual.

We live in poor times for such ideals.

Political violence has risen sharply over the past decade — more so than at any of the five moments in US history where a sitting president has been shot, leaving four dead and one gravely wounded. Donald Trump has been the leading accelerant of that rise, throwing fuel on the fire at every opportunity.

Just days ago, he was posting threats to erase an entire civilisation from above. In November, he wrote that six politicians who had criticised him had committed an offence “punishable by death”.

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© WA Today