Assassination attempt on Trump sparks unexpected unity in divided America
16 July 2024, 07:06
If the act itself was heinous – the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania – what preceded it was equally so.
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For in this presidential election cycle, and in truth for some years before, the USA has resembled less the “shining city on a hill” that Ronald Reagan had invoked from the memory of John Winthrop, and more a warring Tower of Babel.
Citizen has been pitted against citizen in their pursuit of moral certitude, with the very idea of America being besieged from extremes of both Right and Left, fuelled by the toxic narcotic that is the cesspit of social media. If it was Abraham Lincoln who rightly pointed out in the run-up to the Civil War that "a house divided against itself cannot stand”, there have been plenty of contemporary Americans who have done their utmost to ensure a modern day variant of that nightmare might still come to pass.
If both that legacy of years of extreme political division and its most definitive demonstration – the planned murder of a presidential candidate – give us understandable cause for concern about the future of the USA, there are at least some signs that far from being a harbinger of the darkest of times, the events of 13th July 2024 may yet prove to be a positive turning point in that nation’s trajectory.
It would have been easy for both Republicans and Democrats, who are after all led by two aged warriors who are recreating a battle they first fought four years ago, to descend into mutual recriminations about why this horrific incident occurred, and who was to blame. Both sides could easily point to rhetoric and action by their representatives over the years that – if taken at face value – might have led to an increase in political tensions and the propensity for political violence, rather than its diminution.
Instead, something remarkable has happened. Both President Biden and former President Trump have seized the moment accorded by the act of a madman, and chosen the path of sanity.
The sitting President was up first, using an address from the Oval Office on Sunday evening to remind Americans “No matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.” The Biden campaign has followed up on its words by pausing its activities and pulling all negative advertising about Donald Trump.
For his part, the attempted victim, former President Trump, appeared equally ready to replace hostility with positivity. He has announced that his miraculous survival has convinced him to reframe his keynote candidate acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, saying: “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now. It is a chance to bring the country together.”
It is too early to tell if this rhetorical change is likely to be a lasting one. But of all the potential consequences of this hideous action on the course of the USA, it has the potential to be the most important.
Of course Donald Trump is likely to see an uptick in his support after the incident, aided by the already iconic image of his bloodied but unbowed raising of a fist of defiance in the aftermath of the shooting. But should that carry through to victory in November, it would be a wasted opportunity, and a matter of national regret, if the more thoughtful and cohesive Trump we have seen in the last couple of days is pushed to the side.
Similarly, a Biden victory would achieve much more for the nation if it was magnanimous and chivalrous, and aiming to reach out consciously to those who might not have voted for it, rather than the opposite.
It is incredible that an act of political violence may yet have an upside. But if indeed it turns out that America’s response is to turn its back on political hatred and discord, then we may yet have cause to celebrate July 13th; not for the twisted fantasy of its perpetrator, but for the start of America’s political redemption.
