Armed violence and pipe bombers shake voters as the election ends. "Again?", Asks one.

At the Trump rally in Illinois, many people seemed to ignore the shelling of the synagogue, until someone prayed a prayer of the scene.

Asked about those responsible for the conflict in the country, Patricia Mitchell, who drove more than two hours by car from St. Louis, cited "The Globalists," which she later defined as "someone who do not allow or do not like our country to be fair themselves. "

"They want to shape everyone into a big melting pot," she said. "This is not what we designed."

But the violence shows that the turmoil really starts at home. During interviews with The Times in recent weeks, many voters have split over national identity and the definition of values ​​in America, especially in immigration and race.

Mark Hetfield, who heads HIAS, a global non-profit Jewish organization that resettles refugees and appears to have angered the synagogue suspect, said his organization was in shock. "I have never seen anything like it in my life," he said in a phone interview.

"People must stop saying odious things about refugees, Jews, Latinos, transgender people, others," he said. "It must stop in the context of everything we do, not just in the context of this election."

But in the last few weeks of the mid-term elections, which have become in part a national referendum on Trump's leaders, the climate has intensified and the escalation of violence and fear is exacerbating the conflict. divergent views among voters. Halfway through his term, Mr. Trump is confronted with a home account tied to some of the words he uttered at the inauguration: "This American carnage stops here and there. now."

"Pipe bombs against officials, African Americans killed in Kentucky, ongoing physical threats against the press, a total terror campaign directed against immigrants," signaling that hatred is on the move in America, said the spokesman. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Saturday.

"We are facing a battle for the soul of this nation," said Biden, who is considering running for president in 2020. "Words matter, and silence is a complicity."

For some, a parallel that comes to mind right now is the summer of the 1968 presidential election, which saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy two months apart. said Randall Balmer, chair of the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College.

"The difference, however, is that these shots seemed to target specific individuals, while this year's violence is more tribal – against Democrats in general or Jews in general," he said.