"This Is the Age of Political Violence" – Dr Robert Pape (Video)

In this 28 October 2026 published Triggernometry video, hosts Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster talk with Dr Robert Pape who argues that the United States has entered a dangerous era characterized by “violent populism,” where the threat and mainstream justification of political violence have escalated sharply on both sides of the political aisle. 

Pape’s national surveys indicate an unprecedented shift where support for political violence is no longer restricted to fringe groups. For example, his August 2026 data found that roughly 25 percent of Americans agreed force was justified to remove Donald Trump from office, while millions of others supported using the military or National Guard to suppress Democratic protesters. Rather than a civil war modeled after 1861, Pape compares the current era to 1968. The primary risk is an ongoing cycle of retaliation where attacks from one side are used by political elites to mobilize and justify reciprocal violence on the other. High-profile incidents—such as repeated assassination attempts on political leaders, attacks on lawmakers, and targeted violence against political commentators—demonstrate how physical force is increasingly viewed by tens of millions of citizens as a legitimate tool to achieve political outcomes. 

Pape warns that this mainstream normalization represents the single greatest contemporary stress test for democratic institutions, as democracies typically fragment through cycles of severe political violence rather than overnight collapse. 

https://youtu.be/6oxzjRq2bE8

00:00 Trailer
01:08 NEW TRIGGERNOMETRY COFFEE
01:31 The Escalation Trap Explained
07:16 Stages of the Iran Conflict
20:28 Ad: Shopify
21:07 The 1991 Model & Precision War
28:00 The Second Precision Revolution
35:00 The Houthis and Modern Drone Warfare
38:22 Ad: Sheath
39:48 Economic Impact and Blockades
47:20 The Midterm Elections Timeline
55:34 Why America Bases Troops in the Middle East
1:06:16 The Third Option: Regional Balancing
1:14:43 Case Study: Ukraine and Capacity Building
1:22:15 Violent Populism Risks
1:29:55 The Reality of Ice Raids
1:36:11 Causes of Radical Social Change
1:46:09 Student Loans and Economic Grievances
1:51:12 What’s The One Thing We’re Not Talking About
2:00:09 The Role of Political Leaders
2:08:51 The 70 percent Solution to Political Violence
2:17:13 Lessons From the Return to Butler Rally