Trump shooting linked to rising political anger fuelled by social media: Winnipeg political expert

Shannon Sampert, a local political columnist, says the attempted assassination of former U.S. president Donald Trump over the weekend can be connected to the rising political violence in the world, particularly online.

Trump was injured after being shot at a rally on Saturday in Butler, Pa. Two people died as a result, including the shooter, and two spectators were also critically injured.

The FBI, which has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the suspected gunman, said it was investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism.

Sampert says the anger in politics from the politicians themselves down to everyday discourse between normal folks has been ramping up for years and the internet and social media are a reason why.

“What’s happened since about 2001 is we have started to rely on a box to vent our feelings and we have stopped talking to people,” she said.

3:08 Trump shooting: What impact will the attack have on the RNC?

Sampert says it is much easier to find common ground when face to face with someone else, even if your opinions don’t align, and it is better to vent in person as opposed to virtually as the discussions can be more productive.

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“We can both find periods or points of common interest — ‘Yes, I am worried about grocery prices. Yes, I am worried about the rising cost of gasoline. How do we attack that problem?’ — rather than attacking the person who is part of that policy,” she said.

Canadian Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc acknowledged there have been threats of violence against Canadian politicians, but he wouldn’t share the specifics about how many, to whom they have been directed and where they are coming from.

Government documents obtained by Global News warn that the torrent of online threats against public officials has led some Canadians to believe they can threaten, encourage and cheer on political violence with impunity.

Canadian intelligence officials say threatening rhetoric is increasingly seen as a legitimate way to express frustrations, grievances and dissent, fuelling a surge of often violent threats against elected and public officials.

Sampert hopes people will come away from the screens, have healthy conversations with other people and start having productive debates again as opposed to engaging in harmful content.

She says the discourse since the attack has been disheartening and believes more focus should be put on the issues the young shooter was likely facing.

“For heaven’s sake, a man died as a result of this, people were injured as a result of this, there’s no place for this kind of violence and yet we are already jumping on conspiracy theories about it,” she said.

— with files from Global News’ Marc-Andre Cossette, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press