In the aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, called on leaders on both sides of the aisle to come together to condemn the troubling rise of political violence in the United States.
“This could really make a difference,” the professor told MS NOW’s “The Weekend: Primetime” on Sunday.
Pape, who founded the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, said the data his research institute has collected shows a “growing normalization of political violence,” with more and more Americans supporting the use of force to achieve political ends.
“The results are just simply stunning,” he said, “and last night represents this.”
The professor put Saturday’s attack in a larger context, reminding viewers of other recent acts of political violence, including the 2025 shootings of several Democratic Minnesota lawmakers, the 2022 assault on Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband and the assassination of Charlie Kirk last September.
In these cases, Pape argued, the perpetrators were “searching for not just fame, but the idea that there’s a community out there that already agrees with them.”
Pape warned that this weekend’s shooting, which authorities said was intended to target Trump administration officials, could cause an already dire situation to spiral further. He added that it’s time for leaders on both sides of the aisle to unite, as the window for that kind of joint action is closing quickly, urging leaders to join together in the coming days.
“There is going to be only a brief time for this,” he said. “Within a week, this is all going to become politicized, and we all know that. But if this could happen soon — Monday, tomorrow — this could really make a difference.”
You can watch Pape’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
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