FLINT, Mich. (AP) — 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.
“I think it’ll probably happen one more time,” John Trahan, 62, from Grand Blanc, Michigan, said of the prospect of another assassination attempt.
America has confronted searing challenges before, from the Civil War to a presidential election decided by the Supreme Court. There were two assassinations and a wave of deadly riots before the 1968 presidential election.
But presidential historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University said this moment is notable because it fuses widespread distrust of government with the proliferation of online conspiracy theories. Before a gunman camped outside a Florida golf course where Trump was playing on Sunday, the Republican's campaign was pressing a debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people's pets.
“There’s a kind of uncertainty across the land,” Brinkley said, and the incident in West Palm Beach “takes an already tense election when democracy’s on the line and pours gasoline on the situation.”
The internet is providing much of that fuel. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire posted on social media early Sunday that "anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.” The group deleted the message without fully condemning political violence.
“We are not ‘non-violent,’” the group wrote in a post Monday. “It is morally correct to use violence to stop aggression.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X, shared a false report on Wednesday that explosives had been found near a Trump rally. Hours earlier, Musk posted, “Unless Trump is elected, America will fall to tyranny.” Earlier in the week, he wrote that “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”
Musk later deleted the tweet about the assassination and implied he was joking, but not before tens of millions of people had viewed the post.
Despite it all, the presidential campaign moves forward and Election Day, Nov. 5, nears.
Harris quickly condemned the Florida incident and called Trump to offer her support. Democrats in Washington are joining with Republicans to push for stronger security around the former president.
But Harris’ team is not toning down its warning that a second Trump presidency represents a threat to democracy. During an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday, Harris noted that Trump is not alone in worrying about safety.
“There are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe,” Harris said. “Not everybody has Secret Service."
“Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now, immigrants or people with an immigrant background don’t feel safe right now," she continued. "Women don’t feel safe right now.”
Trump and some of his allies, meanwhile, continue to sow divisions — a marked shift from his brief calls for unity in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
Fox News Digital published comments in which Trump, without evidence, blamed Democratic President Joe Biden and Harris for the weekend incident at his golf course and suggested their criticism of him had driven the alleged gunman. Then Trump posted on X that Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, was a communist and “has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.”
“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” Trump warned.
Harris denounced the thwarted attack against Trump and had a brief phone conversation with him on Tuesday in which she expressed gratitude that he was safe and she condemned political violence. Trump described the call as “very nice.”
With early voting already unfolding in some states, more potential challenges are ahead. The FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday that Iranian hackers sought to interest Biden’s campaign in information stolen from Trump’s campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people connected to the president before he abandoned his campaign in July.
There is no evidence that any of the recipients responded, officials said, but the development nonetheless raises the prospect of foreign interference in the election.
Harris’ campaign said it has cooperated with law enforcement since learning that people associated with Biden’s team were among the recipients of the emails. But Trump's campaign responded by pressing Harris and Biden to “come clean on whether they used the hacked material given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump.”
On the ground in Michigan, Trump's loyalists have embraced his anger. In some cases, they are afraid.
Kathy Hutchons, 68, of Waterford, Michigan, said the looming threat of further violence against Trump was “kind of scary.”
Her friends in line for Trump's town hall in Flint said they were scanning trees for signs of threats. They looked with suspicion at the drone overhead, although security officials later confirmed it was one of their safety measures.
“My husband said, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to let you go to this today,’” Hutchons said. “I said, ‘You don’t have a choice.’"
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Michelle L. Price in New York and AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — Israel and Hezbollah exchanged strikes along the Israel-Lebanon border on Thursday as Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed retaliation for attacks earlier this week on his group’s communication devices.
“The enemy will face a severe and fair punishment from where they expect and don’t expect,” Nasrallah said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIRUT (AP) —
The leader of Hezbollah said Thursday the mass bombing attack on the group’s communications devices in Lebanon and Syria was a “severe blow” and said Israel had crossed a “red line.” But he vowed the group would emerge stronger and continue its daily strikes into northern Israel.
As Hassan Nasrallah spoke in a televised speech from an unknown location, Hezbollah and the Israeli military traded new strikes over the border. Israeli war planes flew low over Beirut and broke the sound barrier, scattering birds and prompting people in houses and offices to quickly open windows to prevent them from shattering.
Fears are rising that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war, particularly after this week's unprecedented bombings, which detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie- talkies used by Hezbollah.
At least 37 people were killed and some 3,000 wounded in the explosions, which appeared to be the culmination of a monthslong operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once but also hit civilians.
The attack came as Israeli leaders have warned that they could launch a stepped-up military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group's fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.
Nasrallah said the group is investigating how the bombings were carried out.
“Yes, we were subjected to a huge and severe blow,” he said. “The enemy crossed all boundaries and red lines,” he added.
He vowed that Hezbollah will keep going on with its attacks along the border with Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues. “The Lebanese front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops,” he said.
Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.” He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”
Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”
Hezbollah said earlier Thursday it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel near the border, two of them with drones. The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities. Hospitals reported they treated at least eight patients lightly or moderately injured. The military said early Thursday it had struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
The volley of strikes was a signal by Hezbollah that it would continue its near daily fire, which it says is a show of support for Hamas. Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly pulled back from an all-out war under heavy pressure from the United States, France and other countries.
But in their recent warnings, Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo dramatically.
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.
Lebanon is still reeling from the deadly device attacks of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The explosions have rattled anxious Lebanese fearing a full-scale war. The Lebanese Army said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices, while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.
The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other. Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants Thursday, but didn’t specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines.
The blasts went off wherever the holders of the pagers or walkie-talkies happened to be in multiple parts of Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon — in homes and cars, grocery stores and cafes and on the street, even at a funeral for some killed in the bombings, often with family and other bystanders nearby.
Many suffered gaping wounds on their legs, abdomens and faces or were maimed in the hand. Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,300 others. The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600, Health Minister Firas Abiad said, giving updated figures.
Abiad told reporters that Wednesday’s injuries were more severe than the previous day as walkie-talkies that exploded were bigger than the pagers. He praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours. “It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.
Israelis take cover next to a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from Lebanon, in Nahariya, northern Israel, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People watch the speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on a tv screen as they sit in a cafe in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man mourns during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members, killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A girl cries during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members, killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah members attend the funeral of two of their comrades who were killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Police tape cordons off the area as security members and an explosive specialist investigate a suspicious device in Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah members carry the coffins of two of their comrades who were killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A boy cries during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman holds a picture of a Hezbollah member who was killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during his funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese soldiers stand guard as their comrades prepare to detonate a walkie-talkie that was found at the parking of the American University Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
This video grab shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)
Hezbollah fighters salute as they stand next to the coffins of four victims who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners carry the coffins of victims who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
