Reactions to Trump’s Attempted Assassination
By now everyone has heard the news that former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. While the news horrified all people of goodwill I, like many, was not surprised that an assassination attempt against Trump happened.
Whether it is getting called the greatest threat to American democracy, being likened to Adolf Hitler (whom modern society sees as the ultimate personification of evil), or getting charged with countless crimes merely to stop him from getting elected, the former president has been demonized like no other. As soon as he began debating the other Republican candidates for the 2016 Presidential Election, the political establishment saw him as a threat to their hold on power. From then on, they committed themselves to trying everything to make sure that he could not become president, and later from becoming president again. From this constant hate and vitriol, it seemed only a matter of time before someone would attempt an assassination.
Since the attack, Trump’s popularity has surged among Republicans and he received a hero’s welcome at the Republican National Convention on July 15th. Many of the attendees had tears in their eyes, as they were overwhelmed with emotion by Trump’s surprise entrance as Lee Greenwood sang his signature song: God Bless the USA. The standing ovation and jubilation was something to behold. The assassination attempt has unified the Republican front for the time being, with even his former rival, Nikki Haley strongly endorsing him. The speeches made by Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, and Mark Robinson praised Trump and expressed admiration for his resilience and strong will. One commonality among all of them was that they thanked God for protecting the former president, since a few millimeters to the right, Trump would have been killed.
Since Saturday, the radical left has been trying to backpedal on its hateful statements and actions against President Trump. President Biden has been attempting to appear more moderate and said in an Address to the Nation that it is important for Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics.” At the same time, he has tried to defend his own political rhetoric. Recently Biden expressed his frustration with the former president and said that, “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.” In an interview with Lester Holt he said that while his use of the word bullseye was a “mistake”, he was encouraging people to examine Trump’s policies closely. While Biden's “bullseye” statement may be hyperbole, it is clearly reckless for the President of the United States to use such language. On MSNBC, new anchor Joy Reid called the assassination attempt a “photo op” and compared it to Biden’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis. She also hoped that Trump would not use the event to, “rewrite himself as a hero and a victim.”
Soon after the attack on the former president, many world leaders rushed to condemn the incident including Chancellor Scholz, President Macron, Prime Minister Modi, President Putin, and President Xi. The Kremlin issued a statement saying that while they do not think that Biden and the Democrats are directly responsible for the assassination attempt, they said that, “the atmosphere around candidate Trump...provoked what America is confronting today.” Obviously the Russian government is riddled with corruption and has suppressed opposition parties, and even they are able to see what is happening in the United States.
The rot in contemporary American politics has made the Shining City on the Hill, which was the model of the world, look like a third world country that has descended into chaos. Regardless of one’s opinion on former President Trump, I think it is obvious that the greatest threat to American Democracy came when the candidate of one of the two major political parties is the target of an assassination.
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