The FBI is investigating suspicious packages sent to elections officials in more than a dozen states. State police have begun sweeps of schools in an Ohio community where conspiracy theories have fueled bomb threats . Violent rhetoric is rippling across social media.
And for the second time in nine weeks, a gunman apparently sought to assassinate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump .
This year's campaign for the White House was always going to be fraught, the first presidential election to play out in the wake of an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol , an act of political violence steeped in the lie that the 2020 election was stolen .
But the series of unnerving developments has crystalized the volatility coursing through the country in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign. A political system long lauded for its resilience and durability is being tested, with law enforcement, political leaders and voters navigating complex and unfamiliar terrain.
In Flint, the Michigan city where a contaminated water crisis became a symbol of government ineptitude nearly a decade ago, some who gathered for a Trump event this week seemed almost resigned to a new and dangerous normal.
