Grapevine

Post-election violence is possible in US, political scientist says

Should Americans be bracing for bloodshed if Donald Trump loses the 2024 presidential election?

As a political scientist who studies American politics, I can easily imagine a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection—or worse—following this November's presidential election.

Flashback to 2020

Four years ago, in an attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump and his surrogates furiously challenged its results. Lodging 63 lawsuits, Trump and his surrogates tried to discredit or override vote counting, election processes and certification standards in nine states.

None of these attempts was successful. Many were dismissed as baseless—often by Trump-appointed judges—before they even saw trial. Simply put, there is no evidence of widespread fraud. Even a voter data expert hired by Trump concluded that the 2020 election was not stolen.