Saturday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump is an appalling and horrific manifestation of our current political climate.
For nearly 250 years, one of the foundational beliefs of our nation has been that political differences are settled at the ballot box. Intermittent violence has belied that belief, but for the United States to continue as a beacon of democracy, all Americans must speak out against such acts.
Indignation about political violence, however, is giving way to a climate that feasts on enmity. In a survey last year by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, in conjunction with the Brookings Institution, 23 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”
That is a frightful, inexcusable position. There is nothing patriotic about resorting to violence in a nation that embraces free and fair elections. Those who invoke 1776 in defense of political violence ignore the past 248 years of our history, which have seen the establishment of a secure political system protected by checks and balances and a devotion to democracy.
As President Joe Biden said Saturday: “There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick, it’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening.” And as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said: “This is a horrific act of political violence that ought to be roundly condemned. Obviously, we can’t go on like this as a society.”
Yet too many media outlets, elected officials and internet gadflies (and bots) tacitly condone political violence. It has become a badge of honor to insist that the “other side” is a threat to the United States and that violence is warranted in the defense of liberty. The result is stochastic terrorism, which is described by Dictionary.com as “the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.”
Whether the result is an attempted assassination or an attack on the U.S. Capitol, such assertions undermine our democracy. They must be condemned.
Instead, violent episodes often are used to further stoke underlying anger. After rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021 while trying to overthrow an election, the Republican National Committee called the event “legitimate political discourse.” After Trump was wounded on the right ear Saturday, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., claimed without evidence that “Joe Biden sent the orders.” Biden earlier had recklessly said, “It’s time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye.”
In a time of heightened tensions, leaders and the media members who report on them must understand that words matter. So do the institutions that protect and stabilize our democracy.
One of those is the Secret Service, which jumped into action when shots rang out at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Agents deserve credit for quickly protecting Trump and for shooting the gunman on the roof of a nearby building, but an investigation is warranted. For example, why was a building within rifle range of the podium considered to be outside the security perimeter?
Trump, fortunately, sustained only a minor wound. But a rally attendee was killed and two others reportedly are in critical condition as of Monday.
Indeed, many questions remain in the wake of Saturday’s shooting. But the most important involve our nation’s ability to survive our political disagreements.
