Obama sounds warning about threat of political violence: ‘More people are going to get hurt’

Barack Obama has warned about the dire state of politics in America.

Ahead of an expectedly heated Election Day on 8 November and days after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in their San Francisco home, Mr Obama warned that “more people are going to get hurt” while on the campaign trail in Las Vegas, Nevada, Reuters reported.

Mr Obama said that Paul Pelosi, who suffered a fractured skull after his attacker surprised him in the middle of the night and demanded to speak with Ms Pelosi, “is going to be OK.” However, the former president noted that the current political division and civil unrest in the US could have yet more repercussions for government officials.

“This increasing habit of demonising political opponents creates a dangerous climate,” he said. “If that’s the environment that we create, more people are going to get hurt.”

He added that in a post-January 6 America, democracy is under the constant threat of the “erosion of basic civility.”

As the country faces its first high-profile election since the presidential race in November 2020, which was plagued by baseless claims of a rigged election fuelled by Donald Trump and reverberated by an astounding percentage of Republican leaders, the political divide is vast.

With control of the Senate at stake, eyes are on four toss-up states; Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

As Election Day approaches, Mr Obama has been campaigning for Democratic leaders in those states — Democrats need to win three of those to maintain control of the floor.

On Monday, Mr Obama spoke at a rally in support of current Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, who is facing Republican candidate and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo by a narrow margin.

“I’m here to tell you, Nevada, that tuning out is not an option. Moping and feeling cynical is not an option,” he said to the crowd. “The only way to make this economy fair is if we, all of us, fight for it.”

Last week, Obama campaigned in Georgia, where he criticised Republicans for not breaking ties with Trump.

“Just about every Republican politician seems obsessed with two things, owning the libs and getting Donald Trump’s approval,” Obama said, per CNN. “That’s their agenda, it is not long, it is not complicated and, at least to me, it is not very inspiring. They aren’t interested in actually solving problems.”

“They are interested in making you angry and finding someone to blame. Because that way you may not notice that they have got not answers of their own.”

The former president also hit out at Senate candidate and former NFL star Herschel Walker, calling him “someone who carries around a phony badge and says he is in law enforcement like a kid playing cops and robbers,” in reference to Mr Walker’s infamous stunt during a debate with Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock.

During a visit to Detroit, Michigan, Mr Obama also warned that some politicians are trying “to stir up division to try to make us angry and afraid of one another for their own advantage.”

“American democracy is also on the ballot,” Obama said, per The New York Times. “With few notable exceptions, most Republican politicians right now are not even pretending that the rules apply to them. They seem to be OK with just making stuff up.”

Mr Obama is expected to attend rallies in the key states of Arizona and Pennsylvania on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.