Over the past six months of interaction (mainly via Facebook, so this is anecdotal evidence), trump supporters consistently voice several themes. Three key ones are: 1) We really are smart; 2) We deserve more respect for our positions and opinions; 3) We're the tough ones, you all are snowflakes and if things get rough, we'll thump you.
I'll touch a bit upon the first two, but it's this last one that has me most worried about the potential for violence. trump is failing and failing badly. Russia occupies so much attention (as it should), but in the areas that ultimately matter most to his supporters (jobs, healthcare, safety, a future for the next generation) trump's ignorance and incompetence mean nothing that he promised his supporters is actually happening. Easy examples: the healthcare bill failures--where even if Republicans manage to pass some version of their healthcare bill, it will still fail to deliver on trump's promises of better coverage for less money; Carrier and other companies still moving jobs to Mexico with the accompanying reality that job creation in rural America remains stagnant to non-existent; A sense of safety may be the one area where his supporters feel some movement/success with the travel ban more or less in place; but trump's done nothing to offer a better future, especially for rural America. Eventually this failure has to sink in and become real to his supporters.
Unless something changes the trajectory of things, mirroring trump who clearly believes that you fight fire with fire, this overwhelming failure eventually gives way to frustration and assigning blame, followed by overt efforts to crush the opposition who is given the blame for the failure. Given the mistaken notion that their opposition is all non-violent snowflakes who will fold in the face of their strength and toughness, it seems predictable that we’ll see increasingly large scale and ultimately violent clashes. How many on the left will feel they have no choice but to answer threats or acts of violence with violence? How many on the left are “spoiling for a fight” every bit as much as their counterparts on the right? As cartoonish as it is, that NRA recruiting video purporting to show the willingness for violence by the left is closer to the truth than the nonviolent/snowflake myth believed by so many on the right.
My sample is limited, but the first two themes also play into the potential for things to get violent. trump supporters are deeply offended by the notion that folks on the left think of them as unintelligent, ignorant, and unable to grasp complex issues. Which immediately blends into the disrespect they feel is given to their opinions and positions on issues such as the level of threat posed by Muslims (which they see as very high), why jobs seem to keep disappearing, and who has the answers to the challenges that they face.
In different times, effective leadership would meet these challenges and find ways to de-escalate , but trump is more likely to inflame and encourage than to de-escalate. And on the left? Where are the leaders who can show a non-violent path out of the mess in which we find ourselves?