Polarization and Political Violence: Rachel Kleinfeld

Violent threats against members of Congress are up, and hate crimes have increased to the highest levels ever recorded. Fear is being used as a tool by both Republicans and Democrats to win votes.

In this episode, we speak with Rachel Kleinfeld, a fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, an Governance program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Rachel says people talking across differences isn’t enough to end polarization, even if it can create goodwill and lower the temperature in the short term: there needs to be institutional change and politicians who come together to defend democratic norms.