The civil order of the United States is at threat after this failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump
A wounded, bleeding and defiant Donald Trump: this is the image that will further divide America. Having come within centimetres of death, Trump delivered a fist-pumping, fighting act of defiance.
This is the symbolism that will flash across America. It is hard to conceive this failed assassination will not assist Trump’s campaign to return as president. The civil order of American democracy is at threat. The temperature needs to be turned down, but the hatred now might only intensify.
Fortunately, the assassination attempt failed. That would have turned Trump into a political martyr for the ages. But Trump is now vested with a rallying cry for his supporters and their legions of grievance – that his enemies tried to cut him down.
The MAGA (make America great again) movement will be ignited. What is now vital is the political identity of the dead would-be assassin. Trump, presumably, will be acclaimed as a hero at this week’s Republican National Convention at Milwaukee.
Joe Biden will appeal to the nation to shun violence in the coming campaign, but the President’s authority is badly diminished. The logic of his campaign at this point was to intensify attacks on Trump as a candidate unfit to be president, yet that tactic is now largely derailed.
The ultimate issue is whether the near killing of Trump will break the cycle of fear and hate pervading American politics and provoke a cooling down. Only an optimist would be confident.
Sadly, the resort to attempted assassination will shock but not surprise many people. America is close to the edge. The fear of violence has lurked at the door. America is politically polarised, yet the chasm is worse. The nation is increasingly divided into two cultures fighting each other.
The Biden-Trump contest is depicted in the progressive media as a battle to save the constitutional and democratic order, while among Trump’s backers the election is cast as the necessity to remove a corrupt establishment.
The stakes are going to only intensify. Trump’s immediate message, “I will never surrender”, reveals the emotional impulses released by this tragedy. One of his vice-presidential contenders, senator JD Vance targeted the Biden campaign claiming its rhetoric “led directly” to the assassination attempt.
What hope for a de-escalation in anger, given this blame-laden response? Vance accused the Democrats of depicting Trump as “an authoritarian fascist”. The danger now is that violence begets violence.
America needs to seize upon this event as a warning; the coming campaign must be conducted and resolved in a peaceful manner. Both Biden and Trump have a responsibility to ensure this event is not the prelude to more violence.
At stake is the quality of American democracy.
Yet is there any confidence Biden and Trump can unite in a joint effort to cool the temperature? That’s what should occur, yet it’s highly improbable. If so, it suggests divisions in America will only be accentuated by this attempted assassination.
Biden needs to act and speak like a president bringing the nation together. But how is this possible when his very political survival is at risk within his own party?
The shock of this event might help Biden remain as the Democrat candidate if the party, given this trauma, decides stabilisation is the best course rather than rolling Biden.
The situation is diabolic at multiple levels. History reveals the remarkable ability of the US to recover from crisis. That capacity is about to be seriously tested.
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