Violence in Politics Hits Home
Last updated 1/14/2025 at 8:05am
Violence in politics hits home, raising the question how can America have a democracy where majority rules and where threats of personal and family harm are used to sway and intimidate elected officials?
For example: Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas, who represents a heavily Hispanic District (District 1) that stretches to the U.S.-Mexico border, released a statement on social media sharing her decision to conclude her tenure as County Supervisor, completing her first term this January 6, 2025.
“Due to personal safety and security reasons, I will not take the oath of office for a second term,” she said, without providing any further details.
Vargas won reelection in November, taking more than 62 percent of the vote in her race. was the first Latina elected to the board in 2020 and also the first to serve as chair.
Vargas was unanimously elected to serve as chair, replacing former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher.
Typically, the chair position rotates annually, but it was held by Vargas for two consecutive terms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As board chair, Vargas received fierce online criticism for backing a measure that sought to prevent county resources from being used to support federal immigration enforcement.
The measure passed this month 3 – 1 but the county sheriff, Kelly Martinez, said she would not honor the policy, which is intended to help shield people from the mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump.
“There are no known or active threats towards Chairwoman Nora Vargas or any of the County Supervisors,” said Kimberly King, a spokesperson for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
“The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office takes all threats to any citizen seriously,” King said. “In recent years, we have noticed an increase in contentious public meetings and less civility in general. Some of these interactions rise to the level of threatening behavior and criminal conduct. We investigate these incidents thoroughly and take appropriate action.”
However, threats do not always rise to the level of unlawful behavior nor are anonymous perpetrators of violence sought out, easily identified or prosecuted. Then there’s the internet full of opportunities to intimidate and bully elected officials who do not represent a personal or political ideology.
Vargas had faced a torrent of hateful online comments after spearheading a recent county policy that aimed to limit cooperation with federal immigration officials in advance of incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on undocumented immigrants. She has spoken often of her dismay at mounting public disruptions in Board of Supervisors meetings and said she has faced death threats and other extreme forms of harassment.
“I have stalkers, I have people who harass me on phones, there’s all sorts of things,” she said during a recent Board of Supervisors discussion about changing meeting rules to prevent disruptions.
Vargas also got hit by challenges from fellow Supervisor Jim Desmond (District 5), who was the lone vote against the measure. He was verbally upset, notifying both the media and his constituents of his intent to take the issue to the Trump administration to have the policy overthrown.
Most angry and violent threats regarding immigration are in line with President-elect Trump’s tirades against minorities and illegal immigration. Threatening to deport all illegals beginning the day he takes office. He also has continued to unleash vitriolic and false statements feeding and growing the anti-immigrant frenzy.
In fact, perhaps, due to Supervisor Desmond’s objections about the measure, Vargas received an email from Steve Miller, Trump’s new homeland security adviser and known force behind the detainment centers and family separations ordered under the previous Trump administration. Miller contended the county was violating federal law, and personally attacked Vargas, who he targeted for national derision.
A disturbing number of Americans now endorse the use of violence to achieve political ends. A poll last year found that 30 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of Democrats agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” More than 40 percent of Americans think civil war is possible within the next decade, according to a recent YouGov poll.
“I fear that the country is entering a phase of history with more organized domestic civil violence than we’ve seen in 100 years,” said Philip Zelikow, former executive director of the 9/11 commission. Scholars say the violence will only worsen if lawmakers and conservative media keep egging on extremists with talk that white Christians are being “replaced,” and that Democrats are traitors and communists who steal elections.
“Violent political sentiments used to be held by fringe groups that were disavowed by major political parties,” said Rachel Kleinfeld, who studies polarization and violence at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Now, violent viewpoints are held by mainstream members of the Right and are growing in acceptance on the Left.”
There are threats and acts of violence from the Left, but evidence shows that most perpetrators are right-wing extremists. Of more than 440 extremism-linked murders in the past decade, more than three-quarters were committed by right-wing extremists or white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Last year 26 of 29 political homicides were committed by right-wing extremists.
Since 2015, right-wing extremists have been involved in 267 plots and attacks, compared with 66 for left-wing extremists, according to a study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. the 2020 election, when Trump not only refused to honor the results but actively tried to derail the transition of power, election workers have been frequent targets.
The intensity and prevalence of threats is not always tied to the election calendar or national events, but can be driven by community disputes or the latest conspiracy theory to gain traction.
The problem is most acute at the local level, where the likelihood of threats coming from neighbors is highest, said Amy Cohen, executive director of the National Association of State Election Directors. “When threats and harassment are coming from within your community,” Cohen said, “those are the people that you see at church, or at the grocery store. It changes the way you view your safety.”
While civic discourse is unraveling across the country, one of the most pronounced local examples is at San Diego County Board of Supervisors meetings.
Name-calling, mockery, outbursts and profanity-filled tirades are now standard fare, sinking the mood and scuttling the people’s business.
A KPBS review of public comment at the meetings found incivility skyrocketed a year into the COVID–19 pandemic. In the fall of 2009, KPBS found two incidents. Last year, in the same three-month period, there were 167.
There was a time when people addressed the supervisors with politeness, even deference, using words like “honorable” to address them. Today, public commenters might open their remarks with, “Good morning, board of tyrants,” then accuse them of murder, wish aloud they would drop dead and lob racist insults.
The shift started in 2021 as supervisors became the face of COVID-related restrictions. Protestors flooded the meetings, public comment periods stretched on for hours, and the same group of commenters became meeting regulars.
As their speech veered into threats or racist remarks, it raised questions of how to quell hostility that disrupted public meetings without violating First Amendment protections. That question continues today.
Persons who opposed violence as a political solution or means to settle a disagreement of political issues are at a disadvantage in a world where the angry and mean spirited, not to mention the unhinged seem to be controlling the local and national agendas.
In addition to threats and actual acts of violence against political opponents, this mob, has the backing of wealthy billionaires like Elon Musk, who threaten to unseat or throw wads of money against congressional members who oppose any of Trump’s agenda, including plans to close America’s southern borders and displace any in America who cannot prove citizenship.
Get your driver’s license, birth certificate or state identification ready; you may have to prove your ancestors are white, and immigrated legally. Warning: According to President-elect Trump, “Birth in the United States does not guarantee citizenship.”