I saw an interesting opinion piece the other day that said that when asked in a professional survey, only 3-4% of Democrats or Republicans believe that violence is appropriate if the "other side" wins, but that about 48-50% think that the other side thinks it is.
As Badge is fond of saying, the reality is that we are a much more moderate and unified nation than the agitators would have you believe, but the agitation has led to a great deal more mistrust of "the other side" than we have previously had. This is an interesting conundrum that I truly hope that our leaders--on both sides--will work to remedy.
I know that in politics--as in any competition--the actors play to win, but unlike other competitions, the overarching point of politics isn't supposed to be winning, it's supposed to be good governance. If that's not what the politician is in it for, then they shouldn't be in it. Alas, we all have different opinions about who that last statement should apply to, and unquestionably, power is a corrupting influence.