Nearly 12% of Americans, some 30 million or more, say that using violent force would be justified if that's what is needed to keep President Donald Trump out of the White House.
The stunning reveal comes from the organization Dangers to Democracy via a report in the Guardian.
The study was done by the University of Chicago Project of Security & Threats, run in that far-left city, and pointed out that some 7% say violence is justified to prevent the prosecution of President Trump, more than 17% believe it could be used to ensure members of Congress do the right thing, 12% would allow it to "restore the federal right to abortion" and more.
The report cited the recent indictments by the Joe Biden-supervised Department of Justice of Trump, for his likely First Amendment-protected statements and his possession of classified documents from his presidency.
Key to that dispute is that Joe Biden also had classified documents from when he was vice president in his offices and homes, including a garage with little security, and there have been no charges against him.
"The indictment is radicalizing support for Trump, but that’s not the only source of radicalization," Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor who led the research, told the Guardian.
He said the "left" features "growing anger and radicalization."
Some 18 million believe the use of force justified to restore Trump to the White House, and more than two-thirds of those believe the 2020 election was stolen. Almost the same number believe the Biden administration's attacks on Trump now are intended to hurt his campaign going into 2024.
Constitutional expert and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who has testified numerous times before Congress and has represented members of the body in court, points out he previously has argued the latest Biden indictment of Trump flies in the face of the First Amendment.
"I recently asked, in light of the free speech implications of the second federal Trump indictment, when the price is too high for those who seeking to jail the former president. The chilling answer is found in a new report out of the University of Chicago showing that almost 12 percent of the population, representing 30 million people, believe that violence is warranted to prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. That is almost double the number who believe that violence is warranted to ensure that Trump does become president," he explained.
Biden took office claiming he wanted to bring people together. But Turley warned the opposite has happened.
"We have watched as rage has risen in the country. It is often celebrated by one side or the other. I previously discussed how scenes like the recent confrontation on the floor of the Tennessee House perfectly captured our 'age of rage.' Protesters filled the capitol building to protest the failure to pass gun-control legislation. Three Democratic state representatives — Justin Jones from Nashville, Justin Pearson from Memphis, and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville — were unwilling to yield to the majority. They disrupted the floor proceedings with a bullhorn and screamed at their colleagues," he said.
"It is a scene familiar to many of us in academia, where events are regularly canceled by those who shout down others. The three members yelled 'No action, no peace' and 'Power to the people as their colleagues objected to their stopping the legislative process. Undeterred, the three refused to allow 'business as usual' to continue."
It's happened in Washington, too, he noted.
"Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was shown on videotape screaming about gun control in the Capitol as his colleagues left the floor following a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), tried to calm Bowman. However, when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked Bowman to stop yelling, Bowman shouted back: 'I was screaming before you interrupted me' — which could go down as the epitaph for our age."
He said the real danger lies in politicians trying to use that rage.
"Unleashing such rage is difficult to control and often those leading the mob find themselves later pursued by it. This is why, during the French Revolution, the journalist Jacques Mallet Pan warned, 'Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children.""
via wnd