Isabelle Ems

Professor Jan Babcock

English 137H: Rhetoric and Civic Life I

13 November 2022

The Paradigm Shift: The Escalation of Violence in the Republican Party

American politics is one of the most broad and complex institutions in the world. The

political institutions in America have experienced many different eras in 250 years. More

specifically, the Republican party has undergone drastic changes as a dominant political party.

While the party started as a passive, liberal institution pre-Great Depression America, it has

completely shifted to a fully conservative and even violent at times political organization. The

Republican party of the United States of America has seen many ideologies throughout

American history; however, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald J. Trump’s presidencies

have formed the party into the conservative, violent political institution it is today.

I. The Political Atmosphere of the 1700’s

The American political parties began with the Federalists, formed by George

Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams. The Federalist party advocated for a strong

centralized government and national bank. However, many newly American citizens did not like

the idea of national control over their money due to power-issues in England in earlier years

(Mowinkel). The First Bank of America “acted as the federal government’s fiscal agent,

collecting tax revenues, securing the government’s funds, making loans to the government,

transferring government deposits through the bank’s branch network, and paying the

government’s bills” (Hill). To advocate for their own beliefs, Thomas Jefferson and James

Madison formed the Democratic-Republican party for those who were in favor of a small and

decentralized government.
 II. The Political Atmosphere of the 1800’s

The Democratic-Republican party proved to be the more successful party. As a result, the

Federalist party disbanded. After John Quincy Adams beat Andrew Jackson in the 1824

presidential election, despite Jackson winning the popular vote, two new parties emerged; the

Whig party and the Democratic party. The Democratic party was founded in 1828 by Andrew

Jackson (Mowinkel). The party started off conservative and advocated heavily for states’ rights.

A few decades later, the Whig party disbanded, and the Republican party emerged as the liberal

counterpart to the Democratic party. The two parties began to separate heavily during the Civil

War, as the Republican party was pro-liberation while the Democrats were for state rights and

slavery. The Republican party supported Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Act, so after the

north beat the south during the Civil War, slavery was abolished in the United States. The

Republican continued to be the dominant party as it won over the black vote. They used their

political power to protect formerly enslaved citizens by passing three Reconstruction

amendments (“Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation”).

III. The Political Atmosphere of the 1900’s

The two parties began to switch ideologies in the following century, beginning with the

economic crash on Wall Street in 1929 that led to the Great Depression. The president at the

time, Herbert Hoover, was fiscally conservative Republican and opted to not intervene with the

market crash. This move enraged the American public, especially the more liberal Republicans

of the time, who believed in government intervention. It was the presidential election of 1932

that solidified the switch to a conservative Republican party and a liberal Democratic party.

While Franklin D. Roosevelt was a Democratic, he ran on a liberal election campaign, which

allowed him to win in a landslide. “He campaigned on a promise of government intervention,

financial assistance, and concern for the welfare of the people” (“The Great Switch”). While
conservatives were not completely on board with Roosevelt’s fiscal policies, there was a lot

more bipartisanship that did not result in degradation of the opposing party.

IV. The Nixon Era

Richard M. Nixon was elected in 1969 as the United States of America’s 37 th president.

Nixon was a career politician, as he served as a conservative U.S. representative and senator

from California. Throughout his campaign for president, he advocated for an idea called “New

Federalism.” Nixon’s administration wanted to decentralize federal programs and return social

and fiscal powers back to the states. He actively fought communism and ended the Vietnam War,

while improving the United States' relationship with foreign entities like Russia and China

(“Richard M. Nixon.”). However, Richard Nixon became the first and only United States

president to resign from office on August 9, 1974, after the Watergate Scandal.

Richard Nixon was president during the height of the Vietnam War. While all eyes were

focused on American troops in Vietnam, Nixon ordered U.S. ground troops to invade Cambodia

on April 28, 1970. However, Cambodia was a neutral foreign body at this point, “though North

Vietnamese troops moved supplies and arms through the northern part of the country, which was

part of the Ho Chi Minh trail that stretched from Vietnam to neighboring Laos and Cambodia”

(Pearce). Nixon decided to wait two days to announce the incursion on national television, which

angered Americans who felt as though it was an abuse of presidential powers. Nixon’s

involvement was heavily scrutinized by the progressive, anti-war youth of the time who believed

Nixon’s war in Vietnam was violent, unnecessary, and unethical. The criticism resulted in the

War Powers Act, which “stipulates the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of

military action and prohibits armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days” (“War Powers

Resolution of 1973”). While Nixon vetoed the bill, it passed through Congress again and was

instituted in November of 1973 (Pearce).

 On June 18, 1971, Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs.” However, the movement

was a racially targeted event that increased mass incarceration, especially in heavily black

communities. Nixon wanted to incarcerate as many black people as possible for as long as

possible by implementing mandatory minimums on prison sentences for non-violent drug crimes.

His domestic policy adviser, John Ehrlichman, stated in 1994, “The Nixon campaign in 1968,

and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You

understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or

blacks, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin,

and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities” (“A History of the

Drug War.”). It was the height of police brutality in the 1900’s, when it did not have the success

in lowering drug use that was expected.

The Watergate Scandal was the ultimate downfall of the Nixon Administration. In May

of 1972, members of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) broke into the

Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters and stole copies of documents and

infiltrated the office’s phones. When members of CREEP originally broke into the Watergate

complex, the wiretaps had failed, so five members returned to the building on Jun 17, 1972,

which led to their arrests (“The Watergate Scandal”). Since they were connected to the Richard

Nixon re-election campaign, it fell onto Nixon himself. The event was labeled as illegal

espionage and Richard Nixon resigned from office on August 4, 1974. (“Richard M. Nixon.”)

The entire event rightfully scared the Democratic party, since breaking into the opposing party’

headquarters had been unprecedented until then. Richard Nixon’s presidency set the stage for

violence in the new Republican party. This set precedent for many Republican presidents who

followed in his footsteps.

V. The Reagan Era

 Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, serving as the 40th president of the

United States of America from 1981 to 1989. While he was not a career politician like Richard

Nixon, he used his charm to draw in the American public. He coined the term the “Reagan

Revolution,” which, “refers to the dramatic changes in American politics, economics, and society

that took place under the Reagan Administration between 1980 and 1989” (“The Reagan

Revolution”). Since Republicans controlled the Senate during Reagan’s presidency, he had to

skillfully work with the Democratic House of Representatives to “obtain legislation to stimulate

economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense”

(“Ronald Reagan.”). While he wanted to cut taxes and government spending, he allocated a great

amount of funds to national defense, which led to a deficit.

While Reagan refused to cut spending on national defense, he failed to stop Saddam

Hussein's Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. Hussein was continuously using chemical weapons

against the civilian population, which violated international war laws. “Even after the whole

world condemned Saddam Hussein for using chemical weapons to kill over 5,000 Kurdish

civilians in Iraq, the Reagan administration continued to provide weapons and tactical

information to Iraq, which Iraq used to target its enemies. Reagan even vetoed a UN resolution

condemning Iraq” (“21 Reasons Why…). Instead of directly addressing the problem, Reagan’s

administration secretly armed Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. These American-made weapons

were also made available to Nicaragua, which became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

Reagan’s senior administrators knowingly misled Congress, which fueled the war between Iran

and Iraq (“The Iran-Contra Affair”).

Besides fueling wars, Reagan started wars to divert attention from his failures in foreign

affairs after the bombing in Beirut. After pledging to not remove U.S. troops from Lebanon at

the bombing that killed 241 United States Marines, Reagan did just that. Instead of retaliating or
catering to the American public, Reagan decided that he was going to bomb the small island of

Grenada (Zenko). While Reagan claimed it was due to “Marxist ideologies,” it is more realistic

to assume that he wanted to take attention away from his failures in the Middle East. By doing

so, many more innocent lives were taken.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, so the United States government funded

anticommunist rebels in Afghanistan to combat the “Red Scare.” While this program was started

by Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan heavily expanded it. The CIA gave tons of support to the

Mujahadeen, a militant group fighting a holy war against the Soviets, in which the United States

government portrayed these members as heroic freedom fighters (Frakes, Martin, John, and

Matthew). These Jihadist radicalized and became extremely anti-American, but after the

obtained American weapons and funding. This group that Reagan funded became known as Al-

Queda and committed one of the worst acts of terrorism on United States soil after hijacking two

planes and crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. While 9/11 took place

years after Reagan’s presidency, the event was a direct result of a program he heavily funded and

advocated for.

VI. The Trump Era

While Trump’s presidency was most certainly eventful, it was unprecedented to end a

presidency in an attack on the United States Capitol. Donald J. Trump took office in 2017 as the

45th president of the United States of America (“Donald J. Trump.”). While he primarily had a

successful presidency economically, that all changed after the economy crashed and inflation

rose during the Covid-19 pandemic. Donald Trump’s rhetoric against political opponents and

peaceful protestors, as well as his hysterical outburst that resulted in the January 6th insurrection,

led him to being the post recent political instigators of a violent Republican party.
Donald Trump’s rhetoric against his political opponents resulted in threats and violent ideologies

from his supporters. Amid the 2016 presidential election, Trump suggested that his pro-gun

supporters would need to assassinate Hillary Clinton to prevent her from appointing Supreme

Court justices with a gun control agenda. He stated, “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you

can do, folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell

you what, that will be a horrible day” (“Trump's Record on Police Brutality”). Trump supporters

began a violent chant, “Trump That Bitch!” regarding the instigation of murdering the former

Secretary of State. A more recent recipient of Donald Trump’s political scrutiny is

Representative Liz Cheney, who lost the 2022 Wyoming Primary Election and received death

threats without Trump’s loyal endorsement. In reference to Cheney, Trump stated, “She

[Cheney] is a smug fool, and the great State of Wyoming, together with the Republican Party,

fully understands her act. To look at her is to despise her. Hopefully, she will continue down this

unsustainable path and she will soon be gone” (“Trump's 'Enemies List'”). Trump’s rhetoric is

not just against his political opponents; he has no issue encouraging violence against protesting

Americans who do not share the same views as himself.

During several protests in the United States, Donald Trump has made inflammatory

comments to provoke violence against peaceful protesters. On June 1st, 2020, there were protests

to honor the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in Lafayette Park, Washington D.C.

Donald Trump sent police officers to disperse the area with rubber bullets, tear gas, and riot gear

so he could have the infamous photo op with an upside-down Bible at the Saint John’s Church

(“Black Lives Matter D.C. vs. Trump”).

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump gave a speech that resulted in the insurrection on the

United States Capitol. Within the speech, Trump went on to falsely claim that the 2020 election

was rigged through voter fraud by the Democratic party to ensure that he lost the presidency.
(Fuchs) In a speech prior to Trump’s, his personal lawyer and former mayor of New York City,

Rudy Giuliani, encouraged, “trial by combat,” to the angry Trump supporters. Donald Trump

then gave his speech that would go down in history by declaring, “After this, we’re going to

walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down

any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re

going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to

be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with

weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong” (Fuchs). Donald Trump

instigated violence by using the word “fight” over twenty times throughout the speech and even

swung his fist in a boxing manner. By the end of the afternoon, there was a full insurrection on

the United States Capitol, which ended in several deaths (Sherman). While Trump was the main

elected official to agitate the attack, he had several prominent members of the Republican party

standing in solidarity. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley held is fist up in solidarity, while Georgia

Representative Andrew Clyde compared the rioters to a “normal tourist visit.” Donald Trump’s

presidency held many moments of domestic violence with a climactic ending on January 6th,

2021.

VII. Analyzing the Violence in the Republican Party Throughout the Nixon,

Reagan, and Trump Eras

Richard Nixon’s presidency set the stage for violence in the new Republican party.

Between the active violence against citizens in Asian countries, targeting Democratic

headquarters, and vilifying black Americans, Nixon encouraged violence against those who did

not share the same ideologies as himself. This set precedent for Republican presidents who

followed in his footsteps, like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Much of the violence

surrounding Ronald Reagan’s presidency involves failure against terrorism. While he did
allocate a lot of money towards national defense, it was not well-regulated. Between starting

wars to negate negative attention and providing weapons to foreign groups that eventually

attacked the United States. Many of Reagan’s failures either reflected a violent act on his part or

resulted in more violence on a third-party. While Reagan’s presidential violence was heavily

rooted in foreign affairs, Donald J. Trump’s presidency was the most domestically violent. As

Americans were divided and the nation was falling apart, Trump was right there to ignite the

flame. People died and the country erupted with anger as people took the streets to protest a

presidency that was abused. As our country continues to patch the hole that was left between the

Republican party and Democratic party from Trump’s presidency, the Republican party

continues to shift their ideology and manner.

The Republican party will continue to have ideology shifts if they stand as a major party

in American politics. However, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald J. Trump’s

presidencies have formed the party into the violent political institution it is today. From Nixon’s

violent and targeting “War on Drugs” to Reagan’s failures in the Middle East and Trump’s

insurrection on the United States Capitol, the shift from the old to the new Republican party is

evident. While the Republican party still stands as a powerful political institution, they have

shown a violent nature throughout the past decade.

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