University of Waikato international relations professor Alexander Gillespie told The Front Page the US has a long, sad history of political violence, with four sitting Presidents having been assassinated while in office.
Numerous others have faced assassination attempts, including Trump, who has experienced at least three widely reported ones.
“Assassination is a tool used not just in American history, but everywhere,” Gillespie said, “The difference with Trump is that the frequency seems to be increasing.”
The threat today is less about traditional terror organisations and more about isolated people who are radicalised online and decide to act alone.
This lone-wolf pattern, he said, has been seen more often in right-wing violence but is now appearing on the left as well.
“It’s a different type of left wing than it was in the past. It’s not groups, it’s individuals who are armed with firearms.
“In left-wing terror groups in the 1960s and 1970s, and you can think about groups like the Baader-Meinhof gang or some of the original Palestinian groups, were quite left-wing. Some of the original Irish dissident groups were quite left-wing as well.
“These trends were often defeated by the security services over the period of the 1980s, and left-wing terrorism largely disappeared by the time we got to the 1990s. And that was replaced by a counter-surge of what became religious-based or identity-based terrorism or right-wing terrorism.
“What we are seeing now is that left-wing terrorism seems to be reappearing. And where it’s different from in the past is that it’s not groups that are doing it, but individuals who have been radicalised online,” he said.
Wall Street Journal national reporter Zusha Elinson has posed the question of whether there’s an emergence of a new kind of “high-IQ political attacker”.
“An Ivy League grad. An aspiring engineer who scored 1530 out of 1600 on his SAT. A 4.0 high-school student with a prestigious college scholarship. And now, a Caltech grad,” he wrote.
Gillespie said we have had experiences, some in recent memory, proving why New Zealand should not be complacent.
“What happened against the Muslim community in Christchurch showed us in 2019 that we are not immune to international trends, and we have to learn from our friends and our neighbours.
“There’s often a naivety with Kiwis that because it happens overseas, it won’t happen here. But we know post-Christchurch that’s a mistake, and we need to be vigilant.
“That’s why it’s important for all members of the political parties, left wing and right wing, to condemn these attacks. Because one day it’ll be on your opponent, the next day it could be on you,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Political violence
- Law and protection
- Copycat risk
- Assassination history.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
