Democrats wrestle with how to stop the threat of MAGA violence

By Michael Jones

Political violence has emerged as a core feature of American politics. After all, former President Donald Trump incited an insurrection on the US Capitol in one of his last acts as the nation’s twice-impeached chief executive. And as the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, he’s energized his fanatical base with promises of revenge and retribution, words that sound like music to the MAGA movement’s ears.

Trump’s skill has been exploiting US political tribalism. He’s convinced his supporters and opponents to take policy differences personally and provided partisan obsessives with a playbook that features online bullying, public intimidation and threats of violence when their values feel encroached upon.

This strategy has had dire consequences.

While the number of threats US Capitol Police investigated in 2023 (8,008) were down from recent peak years in 2021 (9,625) and 2020 (8,613), they were up from 2022 by almost seven percent (7,501). USCP says these threats usually surge in election years, so 2024 could see another increase.

“With the political conventions, Member campaigns, and many issues being debated on Capitol Hill, this is going to be a very busy year for our special agents,” Ashan M. Benedict, USCP Assistant Chief of Protective and Intelligence Operations, said.  “Our team is dedicated to putting all of our resources into protecting the Congress while we continue to grow in order to keep up with our expanding mission.”

Beyond threats, some members are victims of actual violence or harassment.

Over the holidays the homes of three congressional Republicans were swatted, including Georgia Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said the latest incident was the eighth since being elected to Congress. The White House was a swatting target this month, too.

And while there’s no doubt that the gridlock and dysfunction Congress has endured under the House Republican majority, a slog that has contributed to some of the 47 members of Congress to date who have announced they would not seek reelection this year, these threats to member safety make it hard to recruit qualified candidates from diverse communities to do the people’s business—leaving extremists to fill the void.

This development bodes unwell for our democracy: It’s one thing to spout violent rhetoric and misinformation on a social app. It’s another to be empowered with the legislative authority to enact the beliefs that inspired that rhetoric.

Swatting, which involves prank-calling emergency services in an attempt to activate a massive law enforcement response to a particular address, is especially insidious.

The practice, which received its name from the special weapons and tactics (or SWAT) teams prevalent in most police departments, is a close cousin to doxxing, which occurs when someone posts the address and details of an individual with the intent to harass or harm them.

Current members have introduced past state and federal legislation to address the issue.

Ted Lieu, a congressman from California and the House Democratic Caucus vice chair, authored a bill in 2011 when he was a state senator to increase penalties for swatting. And in 2015, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, now the number-two House Democrat, sponsored a bipartisan bill in 2015 that made swatting a federal crime with increased penalties. In both cases, the members were victims of swatting soon after.

But after conversations with House Democrats last week, I came away with the impression that lawmakers are uncertain about whether new legislation would prevent swatting or other forms of political violence.

“We’ve gotta turn down the extremism. I don’t know if there are laws that you can put on the books that will tamp this down,” Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who serves as House Democratic Caucus chair and was a member of the January 6th Committee, told me. “This comes down to people in communities who are doing this and it’s terrible, it’s rough, it’s bad when we have to have conversations with our own family members.”

Aguilar acknowledged the issue demands attention before conceding: “I just don’t know what the legislative solution would be.”

The Capitol Police agreed that decreasing violent political rhetoric is one of the best ways to decrease the number of threats across the country. And the Department has scaled up its capabilities to protect members, including hiring its own attorneys and detailed to the Justice Department to work as prosecutors who specialize in the unique types of threat cases faced by Congress.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and former chair of the January 6th Committee, told me there were already penalties associated with swatting calls, for example.

“Now our challenge, as I understand it, is to determine how the swatting actually occurs.”

To be clear, swatting isn’t a phenomenon. It’s been a harassment tool in recent decades. (The FBI has used the term since at least early 2008. It was entered into the online Oxford Dictionaries in 2015.) But when combined with the toxic work environment on the Hill, the threat of political violence some members are now thinking twice about federal public service in the first place.

Others see these threats to democratic institutions as motivators to run. Last month, I asked Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, the chair of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, why anyone would still want to come to Congress.

“Our rights, our freedoms, and our democracy are at stake,” she told me. “People want to run to stand up for [them].

One of those people is Susheela Jayapal, sister to Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila (D-Wash.), who is running to replace the retiring member in Oregon’s most Democratic district.

Susheela has had a front-row seat as Pramila has been the target of serious death threats. In November, the latter Jayapal sister told me that they discussed the good, bad and sometimes ugly aspects of holding national public office. 

“In some ways, she’s had a front-row seat to see that. And so we talked a lot about that,” she said. “She’s been there and she’s watched the attacks on me and she really, like me, wants to be in the fight to preserve democracy.”

Michael Jones is an independent Capitol Hill correspondent and contributor for COURIER. He is the author of Once Upon a Hill, a newsletter about Congressional politics.