>> Eric: IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE HORRIFIC JUNE POLITICAL SHOOTINGS THAT LEFT SPEAKER EMETA MELISSA HORTMAN AND HUSBAND MARK DEAD.

ATTEMPTED MURDERS OF SENATOR JOHN HOFFMAN AND HIS WIFE.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS MET EARLIER WE THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD WEEK TO CHECK IN WITH THEM AGAIN.

SHANNON WATSON HEADS UP "MAJORITY IN THE MIDDLE," A GROUP WHOSE MISSION IS TO BRING TOGETHER PEOPLE FROM ALL SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM.

JOINING HER IS NATHAN STOCK, AN EXPERT ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

-- ASSASSINATION DO TO YOUR MOVEMENT?

>> IT MAKES A LOT MORE PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION OF THE.

AND IT -- THE WORK WASN'T DONE, SO WE HAD INITIALLY SET UP "WHAT WE CAN DO WEEKS" FOR THOSE COUPLE OF WEEKS IN AUGUST AND WE ALREADY KNEW OUR WORK WASN'T GOING TO BE DONE ONCE THE WEEKS WERE OVER AND WE WERE LIKE WE'RE GOING TO TAKE A BREAK FOR THE FAIR -- AND COME BACK AND SEE WHAT ELSE WE NEED TO DO.

THE FACT HAT THESE TWO THINGS SORT OF COLLIDED AT THE SAME TIME JUST BRINGS A LITTLE MORE URGENCY TO THE WORK.

>> Cathy: DOES IT GIVE YOU PAUSE EVIDENTLY MORE MERICANS SUPPORT POLITICAL VIOLENCE, 39% OF DEMOCRATS BACK IN MAY AGREED THAT USE OF FORCE IS NECESSARY TO REMOVE PRESIDENT TRUMP.

24% OF REPUBLICANS THINK THAT THE PRESIDENT'S JUSTIFIED IN USING THE U.S. MILITARY TO SUPPRESS DEMOCRATIC PROTESTERS.

-- THE WORK THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO, IT'S A PRETTY DAUNTING SITUATION THAT WE HAVE ERE.

WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT THIS REALLY?

>> SURE.

WELL, WE LIVE IN A CONTEXT WHERE -- HARD OPPOSITION TO THE OTHER SIDE, PERCEPTION THAT THE OTHER SIDE IS OUT TO GET YOU IS VERY DEEPLY INGRAINED.

THAT SAID, IN -- BEFORE AND AFTER THE '24 ELECTION WHEN YOU ASK AMERICANS IS POLITICAL VIOLENCE, IS IT OKAY TO USE FORCE TO PEND AN ELECTION RESULT FOR EXAMPLE HUGE MAJORITIES SAY NO, AND THAT'S 85% CONSISTENTLY REJECT POLITICAL VIOLENCE.

AND WHEN YOU DRILL IN TO, OKAY, IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD YOU ACTUALLY -- ENGAGE IN VIOLENCE, THE NUMBERS HAVE TENDED TO BE VERY, VERY LOW.

SO -- >> Cathy: QUOTING A PROFESSOR WE HAD ON NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO THIS MORNING WHO SPENT 30 YEARS STUDYING POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND THOSE FIGURES CAME FROM HIM, SO I WAS JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT -- >> I THINK IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU ASK THE QUESTION.

AND LIKE, YES, THERE ARE SCENARIOS IN WHICH AMERICANS MAY BELIEVE THAT VIOLENCE IS JUSTIFIED.

THAT'S NOT -- MOST PEOPLE WANT TO LIVE IN A FREE AND SAFE SOCIETY AND TAKE THEIR KIDS TO SCHOOL AND GO TO LITTLE LEAGUE GAMES AND GO TO WORK.

>> Eric: -- JUST IN A SPASM HERE, LEADER STEPHENSON INDICATED ANYPLACE A THING THAT COULD COME AND GO.

IS IT PERMANENT OR IS IT A FAD?

>> I CERTAINLY HOPE IT'S A FAD.

AND I DO THINK THAT THE MORE PEOPLE WHO PAY ATTENTION TO SORT OF HOW FAR WE'VE GONE AND SAY, OKAY, THIS IS NOT OKAY, THIS IS ENOUGH AND THEN THEY OWN, THEY TAKE STEPS IN THEIR OWN LIVES, IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES TO DOWNPLAY THE RHETORIC AND COMMUNICATE THAT THIS IS NOT THE SOCIETY THAT WE WANT TO LIVE IN.

HOPEFULLY THAT CAN STOP MORE OF THE VIOLENCE FROM HAPPENING.

>> Cathy: WHAT ABOUT LEADERS -- ON BOTH SIDES -- THINK IT'S BECAUSE OF THEM.

YOU KNOW, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A GRASSROOTS KIND OF FROM THE BOTTOM, UP.

BUT WHAT FROM THE TOP?

>> WELL, YOU NEED BOTH.

I MEAN, THERE'S VERY CLEAR RESEARCH FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT CONTEXT THAT LEADERS SET AN IMPORTANT TONE AND WHEN YOU SEE LEADERS DEMONIZING GROUPS OF PEOPLE, PAINTING COMMUNITIES AS THREATENING BECAUSE OF THEIR IDENTITY, THEN, YEAH, YOU OPEN THE DOOR TO -- CERTAIN PEOPLE.

THAT'S VERY, VERY DANGEROUS.

WELL, THEN YOU GET EVERYBODY ELSE WHO'S STILL IN WHAT I CALL THE SILENT MAJORITY, WE HAVE TO FIND WAYS TO LIFT UP OUR VOICES AND SAY, LOOK, WE DON'T WANT THIS.

AND ULTIMATELY YOU BUILD A BIG ENOUGH MOVEMENT THAT YOU CHANGE -- THAT MAKE -- RHETORIC, DEHUMANIZING LANGUAGE -- -- >> WE HAVE AN ATTENTION ECONOMY AND PEOPLE ARE REWARDED FOR SORT OF STOKING THOSE DIVISIONS AND THAT -- UNTIL VOTERS TELL THEM NOT TO.

>> >> I WAS AT THE DNC, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE HEARING IN MINNEAPOLIS AND MANY OF THE SPEAKERS THREW IN A SWEAR WORD AND WE'RE GOING TO FIGHT FOR THIS OR WE'RE GOING TO FIGHT FOR THAT.

DIDN'T SEEM LIKE THEY WERE -- TEMPERATURE, JUST AS AN EXAMPLE.

>> THAT WAS A VERY SPECIFIC ROOM, VERY SPECIFIC AUDIENCE, THEY'RE SORT OF TRYING TO FIRE EACH OTHER UP.

I -- MEETINGS WAS POIGNANT AND REALLY A MESSAGE THAT I WOULD LIKE AMPLIFIED.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME WHEN YOU SPEND A LOT F TIME IMMERSED IN THOSE CLIQUES THEN YOU'RE MORE LIKELY TO SEE DIVISION ON THE OTHER SIDE AS THREATENING TO YOU.

AND THEN OF COURSE WHEN YOU KNOW PEOPLE WHO ARE LITERALLY GETTING ASSASSINATED, THAT AFFECTS YOU AT A VERY HUMAN LEVEL.

AND SO I'M TRYING TO GIVE PEOPLE A LOT OF GRACE RIGHT NOW, KNOWING THAT SOMETIMES THE THINGS THAT YOU SAY WHEN YOU ARE FEARFUL OR ANGRY OR GRIEVING LIKE YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT AT YOUR 100% BEST.

AND SO LIKE GIVING PEOPLE A LITTLE BIT OF LEEWAY FOR RIGHT NOW.

>> Cathy: NATHAN, YOU'RE A MIDDLE EAST EX-PELTER AND I'M WONDERING, GENERATIONS ON BOTH BOAT SIDES OF THAT CONFLICT HAVE DEMONIZED THEIR OPPONENTS, RIGHT?

I MEAN, IT'S ALMOST LIKE -- DO YOU SEE THE -- GOING IN THAT KIND OF DIRECTION IN TERMS OF THIS INGRAINED DEHUMANIZING LANGUAGE, RHETORIC BEING USED OR NOT?

>> AT THIS MOMENT IN OUR HISTORY, HARD -- PARTISANS ON THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT -- SEE THE OTHER SIDE AS THREATENING.

THERE'S A LOT OF RESEARCH, I RECOMMEND THE ORGANIZATION MORE -- THAT SUGGESTS THAT THE MEDIAN REPUBLICAN OVERESTIMATES THE CONSERVATIVENESS -- PARDON ME, THE LIBERALNESS OF THE MEDIAN DEMOCRATIC AND VICE VERSA.

WE TEND TO CARICATURE OUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS.

HOWEVER, WE'VE HAD MULTIPLE PERIODS IN UR HISTORY OF POLARIZATION AND DEPOLARIZATION.

IF YOU LOOK AT THE PERIOD 1900 THROUGH 1970 YOU SAW A PERIOD OF POLITICAL DIVERGENCE.

-- THERE'S ALSO EVIDENCE FROM OUR PAST OF MOVING IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

>> Eric: AND WE'RE 50/50 AS A COUNTRY WHICH DOESN'T HELP MATTERS I SUPPOSE.

>> 50/50 OR IT DEPENDS N HOW YOU TALK TO.

IS I CAN'T REMEMBER IF IT'S PEW OR GALLUP, LAST YEAR WAS THE FIRST YEAR THEY DID THEIR ANNUAL SURVEY OF WHAT PEOPLE IDENTIFIED AS, AND MORE PEOPLE HAVE FINALLY STARTED IDENTIFYING AS INDEPENDENTS RATHER THAN, YOU KNOW, REPUBLICAN PARTY OR DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE DO HAVE A GENERAL LEAN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER BUT THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE NOW IN THIS COUNTRY WHO ARE IDENTIFYING AS INDEPENDENTS.

WHICH I T