‘Something needs to be done’: UNL student political groups react to rise in political violence

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Student political groups in Lincoln are weighing in after the recent political violence.

Authorities say Cole Allen, 31, attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump on Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

This now means in just two years, there have been three assassination attempts against Trump, along with the killing of political activist Charlie Kirk and two Minnesota lawmakers.

Husker Democrats and UNL College Republicans are two political student organizations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

While the members of both groups may not agree on most issues, they’re aligned when it comes to this violence.

“Something needs to be done, and we need to be having those conversations,” said Nicklas Stefanik, the secretary of UNL College Republicans.

Troy Kallhoff, the president of Husker Democrats, said this most recent shooting incident is terrifying. But unfortunately, it’s not all that shocking.

“It’s sort of become this numbing feeling,” Kallhoff said. “There’s not much of a reaction from people anymore.”

No matter what their political affiliation, he said, no one wants our country’s leaders to be victims of violence.

Stefanik believes the online rhetoric is partly to blame.

“I would point to social media,” he said. “I would point to how inflammatory everything has become.”

Both groups said they’ve been proactive in getting together for respectful debates and in forming relationships with people with different political ideologies.

“We need to return to civility in our political conversations because without it, we just keep demonizing and not actually understanding the issues we’re focusing on,” Kallhoff said.

Stefanik hopes that by leading the change, it will start to fix things for future generations.

“And naturally, those political opinions aren’t going to start to seem so big anymore, and they’re not going to seem so divisive,” he said.