Harmful spillovers from toxic partisan politics

In the respective speeches they made in Pennsylvania last week, US President Joe Biden called his predecessor a "clear and present danger" to the democracy of the United States, while previous US president Donald Trump claimed his successor and the group around him were an "enemy of the state".

The Capitol Hill riot, originating from Trump's claims that Biden "stole" victory in the presidential election from him, might prove to be only the prologue to the country's future sufferings should the political divide in the country continue to foment animosities and claims that the other party is a threat to the nation.

At present, the political situation in the US is in an abnormal state ahead of the midterm elections, as the political mobilization of both sides is similar to that for a presidential election in terms of the scale and depth.