More than a year ago, we held a war game at Utah Valley University (UVU) about political violence in the United States — something that would soon rear its head on campus. Now that UVU, Utah and the United States are grappling fully with the implications of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and other incidents of political violence, especially the recent shooting in a Michigan church, we thought it appropriate to share that the stakes are — amazingly — even higher than most imagine.
Our war game included students, professionals and local leaders playing the roles of domestic and international governments. In the war game, the players portraying international adversaries could clandestinely exploit tension in the United States. Unsurprisingly, they seized the opportunity and never let go.
The willingness of international actors to exploit political division is not unique to players from Utah or UVU. We’ve run the same war game across the United States, and every time a team playing one of the United States’ adversaries can sow discord, they do.
The international effects of political violence
You see, domestic discord — and especially political violence — is an irresistible siren song to enemies of democracy. If you oppose the United States, fomenting violence in the United States, dividing Americans against each other, even getting Americans to kill one another, does your work for you.
To be clear, we are not implying foreign actors caused or supported any specific episode. Investigations into each event will uncover international support, if any, and only then should we draw conclusions.
However, adversaries will capitalize on tragedies, and we ignore the international dynamics inherent in political violence to our peril. If Americans are willing to shed each other’s blood for political reasons, authoritarian agents may push them, directly or indirectly. And if Americans can be divided, adversaries will feed them with emotional and intellectual support to push them deeper into extremist poles.
Unfortunately, the logic of the “Manchurian Candidate” dominates how many people think or talk about foreign interference in political violence. People often assume if a foreign government acts in the American political system, it must want something specific.
While no doubt foreign governments would love to puppeteer others to do their will, it is hard to control individuals or groups clandestinely from afar. It is harder through the chaos of political violence.
But democracy’s enemies need not control the chaos, because chaos is the point. Dictators and despots do not need democracies to do their bidding. They only need democracies to be too weak or distracted to act effectively, and tyrants can then do as they please.
The USSR did not support the Red Army Faction because there was a realistic chance they would overthrow the government in Bonn. Shifting German resources away from challenging the Soviets was success enough to merit Soviet support. Divide and conquer is a strategic maxim for a reason. Prolonged internal division, especially when it becomes violent and hateful, is a national security concern.
We the people can and must end political violence
The natural question, then, is: “What is the solution?“ There are no easy answers. But the solution must come from the people.
Many policy prescriptions fail when foreign governments become involved. Whatever domestic governments can take away through laws and regulations, a foreign government can supply, especially in the internet era.
We the people must collectively decide to live together again and re-embrace a peaceful political process where we value compromise and communication. Division and political violence are not problems experts alone can solve. Any imposed solution is no solution at all.
Americans have successfully trod this path before, and we can do it again. The stakes may be higher, but the problem is the same. If we do not solve the problem of political violence, we will not only be fighting against ourselves — our adversaries will be there to fan the flames.