Washington National Guard members stand outside the former Macy’s building near Westlake Park on June 1 as protesters gather before marching in downtown Seattle. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)
Seattle Times: Military, police in Washington state prepare for possible civil unrest after election
As tension builds toward Election Day, law enforcement officials in Washington and elsewhere are preparing for the prospect that this year’s long, hot summer of unrest won’t end on Nov. 3, regardless of who wins the presidency.
If anything, officials worry that pressure will only build in the coming weeks, faced with the possibility of a contested election, spiking gun sales and ongoing civil unrest over institutional racism and police violence, all driven by a tsunami of social media misinformation and conspiracies from the right and left, not to mention from foreign adversaries.
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WNU Editor: Everyone is getting ready for unrest .... Facebook prepares measures for election unrest. I am not in the U.S.. I live in Canada looking at the U.S. from the outside. From my vantage point I do not sense there will be immediate or short-term violence after the US Presidential election. I do expect some people will be upset. Possible protests/riots in places like Portland/Seattle/New York City/Washington/Chicago/etc. .... but nothing big or major right after the election. My big worry is the weeks and months after the election. The pandemic has caused a great deal of damage to the US economy. It has exposed many weaknesses, and accelerated problems that need to solved quickly instead of being kicked down the road. Insolvent pensions. Massive personal/corporate/and government debt levels. High unemployment numbers. A health system near the breaking point as it continues to confront the first major pandemic in a century. Inequality and poverty. These are all the ingredients that can accelerate unrest in any country, the US included. Will this happen in the U.S.? In my lifetime I have seen this happen in Russia (1993) and China (1989). I hope that I never see it in the U.S..
