LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — After a mail-bomb plot targeting critics of President Donald Trump — and then yet another mass shooting — Americans are wondering if the latest spasm of violence might finally prompt some civility.
Both Democrats and Republicans going to the polls for early voting say the polarized political climate has grown toxic and dangerous.
Federal authorities have arrested a Trump supporter in connection to the bombs sent last week to CNN, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others the president routinely derides. Then Saturday, came a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue — an apparent hate crime.
Stanford University sociology professor Robb Willer says the splintering of society along party lines and the ascent of vitriolic campaigning merged to create a breeding ground for violence.
