White House Race- July 14, 2024

As I sat down yesterday to start composing my weekly post on Presidential politics, our political world immediately changed. Throughout the entire week, I was noting to myself how much there was to discuss and monumental the week had been. Momentum kept switching back and forth, seemingly by the way,as to whether or not Joe Biden would be able to remain his party's presumptive nominee. It could be stated that by looking at online betting odd websites, the "contest" between Biden and Kamala Harris seemed far more competitive than anything else in the 2024 primary season  In an instant though, the immediacy of needing to delve into any of that, or to offer analysis, rant about frustration, predict the next Republican Vice Presidential nominee, mention  notable celebrity deaths, or crack any jokes was lost.

What happened on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania was indeed shocking, but frankly, not entirely surprising. There are so many thoughts and emotions. Let me start by being clear. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States (and current front-runner to become the 47th) was a horrific historical event. It was nothing less than an attack on democracy, something that many of us, especially those who oppose Trump speak against. Thankfully, Trump's injuries were relatively minor. We were literally an inch away from his last words being, "If you want to see something that is really sad, look at what happens..." Had Trump been killed yesterday, or grievously injured, America would feel like an uglier place than it might feel right now.

Only some time later did we hear that an innocent man was killed by the would be assassin. Two other men were seriously hurt, but are said to be stable now. A 50 year old firefighter named Corey Compertore was violently murdered, in front of his family, as it has been said that he was shielding them from bullets. Today, Josh Shapiro, the liberal Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania, and someone who is said to have national political ambitions himself,  paid tribute to the man in a way that both seemed moving and kind of hard to fathom in our current political environment. The Governor noted that the citizen from his state who had been killed was a proud Donald Trump supporter, and also a good man, and did so without offering any irony. It is hard for many people, myself included to really grasp that. I know that millions of people have and will vote for Trump because they think he or his party are the better option, but it is hard for me to understand just how a person can be so drawn to him that they choose to wear a red heat with his slogan, or fly a blue flag with his name, or even go to one of his rallies. Yet they do, and they are my fellow Americans, and they are not automatically bad people just because I cannot understand their point of view. What happened yesterday in that crowd must have been horrifying, Thankfully the carnage was not worse. In the days ahead, there will be a lot of questions to be answered in the investigation, especially by the Secret Service. The agents who protected Trump in the aftermath did their job, but it seems like there should have been better preparation for what could have happened at this event. Hopefully, we can learn from this.

Once again, I am glad no major physical harm came to Donald Trump. Whatever I think of him politically or personally, which is not much, he is a human being with a family. As a presumptive major party nominee, he also is a symbol, rightly or not, of our electoral democratic process. Whatever crimes Trump has inflicted on people, a crime should not have been inflicted upon him. However much damage Trump has done to American democracy or seeks to do, killing him would never be a solution.

 

Since yesterday, all sorts of people have rightly been denouncing political violence. These acts have been going on in America for a long time. Assassinations are sadly part of our history. Ugly politics obviously did not start with Trump and obviously would still exist if he were still a reality television star. I cannot pretend though that he is a good man or someone without culpability to bringing us to our current toxic strain of the historical pandemic of political division and violent attitudes.

 

There is so much blame to go around. The far left and the far right have been doing a disservice to America in recent years. Seemingly mainstream politicians in both parties have made the decision to accommodate ugliness in their bases for political calculations. We have seen Trump try to minimize hatred and violence from people on his side in Charlottesville by talking about "good people on both sides." We saw voices on the left, sensitive to legitimate feelings of anger after the murder of George Floyd, choose to downplay or minimize violence and lawlessness and outright hatred of all police in the summer of 2020. Of course, we saw January 6, 2021, in which a violent mob tried to attack our democratic process. Police officers lost their lives, as did people who broke into the Capitol in the name of Donald Trump. Before that day, Trump, excited about people coming out to hear him speak, wanted to get rid of metal detectors. He said something like, "they don't want to shoot me", inferring that it was somewhat ok that they might to shoot other people. Later, he said it was "common sense" that people wanted to hang Mike Pence. Many would have killed Trump's own Vice President if they could have, along with Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney, and many others. Trump remains indicted for alleged crimes related to that chapter.

It is right and appropriate for people to keep Donald Trump and his family in their thoughts and prayers at a time like this. Would he do the same though? When a deranged political extremist broke into the home of an elderly Paul Pelosi and nearly killed him with a hammer,after initially planning to greatly injure his wife, Trump and his namesake son, and many in the "MAGA movement" reacted by spreading conspiracy theories and telling jokes. It was seemingly hilarious to them. Nobody should have laughed about it and nobody should laugh about what happened yesterday. There are lessons to be learned. Republicans have for far too long normalized the actions and rhetoric of the most extreme part of Trump's base,because they do not want to lose their votes. By the same token, the past several months have seen Democrats overly concerned about the anger and potential alienation from the party of extreme anti-Semites, who scream hate and glorify violence against Jews. We all have so many lessons that need to be learned in America.

Where do we go from here, on the literal eve of the Republican National Convention? The reality is that Trump was on path to win the 2024 election before yesterday and the events of the day will only help him politically. The images of him being grazed by a bullet and then being brought back to his feet by his Secret Service detail, face blooded, but pumping his fist and yelling "Fight! Fight!" are iconic and will be part of his permanent legacy. He almost could not have planned it better. Many of his fans have bizzarely attached religious idolatry to him before this and it will only continue now. The still images of him having been shot, but standing defiantly under are hard to ignore.

Today, there is talk that is Trump is somewhat deeply moved by this experience and might even be undergoing some sort of religious reawakening. If so, it would make sense for a normal person. His life was literally spared by turning his head for a split second. We know that Trump and President Biden (who has awkwardly but professionally conducted himself in the aftermath of this event) had a cordial phone call last night. One would have found that hard to believe a few days ago. Could Trump genuinely be so moved by what might rightfully be described as G-d's grace and mercy in sparing him, really be serious about now wanting to "unite" the country? Such a thing feels like the plot of a movie, but when it comes to Donald Trump, I just do not see it happening. He is just not a good person. Sooner or later,and it will probably be sooner, he will travel on the low road or encourage others to do so on his behalf in  trying to capitalize off the attempt on his life. He will stoke theories that all past criticism of him led him to almost being killed and any current criticism of him or his agenda is a danger to America. Sadly, many people will believe it. I hope Trump moves me wrong on this,and if he does, he will almost certainly win the White House despite my desire that he does not, but I think I know what is in the man's soul, and it is not good. No human ever has the right to play G-d with his life or anybody else's though.

That brings us to the now dead 20 year whose name will go down in American history. What brought him to this point? We may never really know although America deserves to. We are told he is a "registered Republican" who as a teenager also donated 15 dollars to help elect Democrats. Obviously, he was trying to kill Trump. Maybe he was a committed leftist who took the warnings about the dangers of Trump too personally. Maybe he was like the killer of John Lennon, who had some weird horrific desire to murder one of his heroes. Frankly, his background and supposed long-standing penchant for guns and hunting would make him seem like the kind of kid who would have been a Trump fan. Maybe he was just a damaged loner with mental issues, whom like so many recent mass shooters, was just looking to become infamous in his own death.

In any event, allies of Trump are already trying to somehow blame this on Joe Biden, or Democrats, or Never Trump Republicans, or the media. There are sick, ugly things online. Some of the people said to be most in contention to be named Trump's running-mate(it was probably supposed to happen tomorrow and might still be) such as Ohio Senator JD Vance have really crossed the line. Those who dislike Trump and who will say things like, "gee, I wish the kid was a better shot" have also crossed the line and are part of the problem. We know those people also exist.

The campaign will continue, starting with the Republican Convention. Extra Secret Service security measures are likely needed (and one would think that will now need to also apply to Robert Kennedy Jr. who has been warning for months that he might meet the fate of his father in 1968) and there may be changes in how outdoor rallies are held. While there might be much for the U.S. Secret Service to account for, there appears to be zero evidence that Joe Biden somehow denied Trump's request for greater protection during this campaign. The evidence suggests that more protection was recently given. Still though, no candidate for President is ever going to be as well protected as the sitting President, for obvious reasons.

For every day this week leading up to Saturday, and for nearly two weeks before, the Biden campaign and Democrats were hoping for something to take away the enduring flareups surrounding the incumbent's horrible debate performance against Trump. It did not seem likely the story was about to dissipate but a near assassination managed to do the trick. In some ways, that could now be a political plus for Biden, because the increasing forces within the party who want him to step down are now said to have basically concerned that for now at least, there is not much point in trying to push him out. Trump is in an even stronger position now, especially if Biden remains his opponent. The only way that Biden was going to win the election was for he and his allies to make Trump as toxic as possible to Americans. Now, that he was nearly killed, it will be trickier for them to try to do that without angry pushback. Prominent politicians in both parties are now in greater physical danger because of what happened on Saturday. I maintain that if Trump is to be beaten, Biden needs to be replaced by a younger, healthier candidate who can communicate an anti-Trump message in a more effective way. That seems less likely now than it has since before the debate. There will be many angles to dissect in the future as to why Biden has fought so hard to stick around and why so many Democrats on the left, who were frankly never huge Biden fans, suddenly became his most staunch allies during this political brouhaha. We will also need to examine why Afrcan-American voters, especially women, who represent a core constituency among Democrats, are seemingly so adamant in "Ridin' with Biden", even though he would almost certainly be replaced by a black woman.

To conclude, I still hope that somehow, someway, America can be spared from another Trump Presidency, To state the obvious though, and to use a cliche, such a thing needs to come from ballots and not bullets. Regardless of who wins the election this November, and which losing side may refuse to concede graciously, America is likely to remain as divided as we have known in for generations.

A statement was released this morning by former First :Lady Melania Trump, who nearly became a widow yesterday. It was a long statement, filled with somehow unusual word choices, but in a way, her message was pretty poetic, and worthy of attention, especially by her husband. Mrs. Trump wrote:

 

"Let us not forget that differing opinions, policy, and political games are inferior to love. Our personal, structural, and life commitment - until death - is at serious risk. Political concepts are simple when compared to us, human beings.

We are all humans, and fundamentally, instinctively, we want to help one another. American politics are only one vehicle that can uplift our communities. Love, compassion, kindness and empathy are necessities.

And let us remember that when the time comes to look beyond the left and the right, beyond the red and the blue, we all come from families with the passion to fight for a better life together, while we are here, in this earthly realm.

Dawn is here again. Let us reunite. Now.

This morning, ascend above the hate, the vitriol, and the simple-minded ideas that ignite violence. We all want a world where respect is paramount, family is first, and love transcends. We can realize this world again. Each of us must demand to get it back. We must insist that respect fills the cornerstone of our relationships again."