Welcome to The Conversation’s first politics newsletter of 2025. Already this year, news is breaking at a frantic pace. As the head of the politics desk, here’s my promise to you for this year, which is the same commitment we make every year: We will do our best to cover the news that matters to you and to the country, sidestepping the antics, eruptions and diversions that have come to characterize our political life.

I’ll begin the year focusing on exactly the kind of story that looks at a national problem and brings it down to the personal level. Scholar Rachel Locke is a violence prevention expert at the University of San Diego. Locke describes a study she conducted that looked at political violence in Southern California.

“Threats and harassment are pushing some politicians out of office, scaring off some would-be candidates and even compelling some elected officials to change their vote,” she writes, noting that between 2013 and 2016 there were, on average, 38 federal charges involving threats to public officials per year. “That average sharply increased between 2017 and 2022, when an average of 62 federal charges were brought annually for threats to public officials,” she writes.

And here’s the ultimate danger to society from that kind of threat, Locke says: “When elected officials worry for their safety, it has implications for all Americans. Democracy suffers when people are governed by fear.”

Also in this week’s politics news:

Naomi Schalit

Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
Mob rule is not conducive to representative democracy. Nosyrevy/iStock via Getty

Climate of fear is driving local officials to quit – new study from California finds threats, abuse rampant

Rachel Locke, University of San Diego

Researchers surveyed hundreds of elected officials in three Southern California counties. They found 2 in 3 respondents had been threatened or abused – and that many worried for their safety.
Walking away. Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on Jan. 6, 2025. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images

Trudeau taps out: How Trump’s taunts and tariff threats added to domestic woes confronting Canada’s long-standing PM

Patrick James, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

After a decade as prime minister, Justin Trudeau has succumbed to unpopularity at home, infighting in his party – and questions over his response to the incoming US administration.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a white Ford F-150 pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Matthew Hinton/AFP via Getty Images

New Orleans attacker’s apparent loyalty to Islamic State group highlights persistent threat of lone wolf terrorism

Sara Harmouch, American University

The suspect in a truck assault that left at least 15 dead had previously pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group, authorities say.

Righting a wrong, name by name − the Irei monument honors Japanese Americans imprisoned by the US government during World War II

Susan H. Kamei, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Duncan Williams, University of Southern California

The US government locked up nearly 126,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945, but never kept comprehensive records of all the people subjected to this unjustified incarceration.

What Shakespeare revealed about the chaotic reign of Richard III – and why the play still resonates in the age of Donald Trump

David Sterling Brown, Trinity College

William Shakespeare’s play ‘Richard III’ illustrates how a power-hungry monarch can attain the throne at the expense of civil society.

Mainstream media faces a credibility crisis – my journalism research shows how the news can still serve the public

Anita Varma, The University of Texas at Austin

Legacy newsrooms have lost their audiences. Could a radical transformation in how they practice journalism make the industry relevant again?

What is a war crime?

Hurst Hannum, Tufts University

Wars always include killings and destruction, but there are limits. An expert in international law explains the rules of war laid out in the Geneva Conventions − and why they’re so hard to enforce.