It was a threatening message to his wife that prompted Adam Besthoff to remove all but one of his Donald Trump signs in the run-up to an election that has fueled divisions among Americans.

“They said they know where she lives and where she works,” the 49-year-old told AFP from his home in Fairfax, Virginia, where a single sign with a photo of Trump now remains. raising his fist after surviving an assassination attempt in July. .

Besthoff, a plumber, had tried to deter vandals – including smearing sardine can oil on the panels – but, he said, more than a dozen were nevertheless stolen in the run-up to the vote. from November 5.

Democratic supporters have also been targeted in neighborhoods across the country divided by the election.

In Missouri, a woman followed an Apple AirTag she had placed in her Kamala Harris sign to a car in a nearby town. When confronted, the owner opened his vehicle to reveal dozens of Harris signs.

“I expected to find the AirTag, but not 59 signs. It was a bit like finding a dead body,” the woman, Laura McCaskill, told local media.

The White House race between Trump and Harris has polarized voters on hot-button issues ranging from abortion rights to immigration laws.

According to a September Gallup poll, a record 80 percent of U.S. adults say Americans are sharply divided on what values ​​matter most.

The humble lawn sign is a part of American life, often used to promote a child’s sports team or school. But with political tensions playing out in local neighborhoods, traditional election signs have proven too cumbersome for some.

– ‘It’s just crazy’ –

Besthoff — a Republican Party member living in a county that voted 70% Democratic in 2020 — expected backlash to his pro-Trump signs that touted “Trump Secure Border, Kamala Open Border.”

But he remains shocked by the frequency and audacity of acts of vandalism, filmed by his home’s security cameras and shared with AFP.

Video shows a hooded man tearing down a sign in Besthoff’s front yard before throwing it into the street and fleeing. Another shows a woman putting signs in a black trash bag.

The final straw was online messages sent to his wife’s beauty salon, identifying where she lived and, according to Besthoff, threatening to tarnish her business with bad reviews if the signs were not removed. not deleted.

“It’s just crazy,” Besthoff said. “My wife feels like if I put up signs I’m inviting a ‘wild dog,’ as she calls them.

“She reluctantly allows me to put up a sign, but she also asks that I take the sign down. Every day now it’s an exchange between us.”

Matthew Hurtt, a Republican Party official in Virginia, told AFP he had received reports of at least 100 signs stolen since the beginning of October.

Theft of traffic signs is a criminal offense in most U.S. states, but it is rarely prosecuted due to the low value of the signs and the difficulty in identifying thieves.

Yet for many, the greatest cost of these incidents is freedom of expression and loss of neighborhood tolerance.

“It’s respecting your neighbors, respecting their First Amendment rights,” said McCaskill, a Harris supporter.

Hurtt agrees: “It has a chilling effect on political discourse.”

bjt/bgs