For the second time in two months, there has been an assassination attempt on President Trump. Most of the media types are calling it unprecedented – and a sign of the growing violence in America.
Before getting into this last attempt to kill Trump, we should engage in some perspective.
Every time I heard one of the news hosts – or guests – talk about the unique nature of the two assassination attempts on Trump, I remember that those folks on the telly are script readers – not intellectual giants.
Trump is not the first President to suffer two attempted assassinations. That dubious honor goes to President Jerry Ford. He was shot at two times within 17 days. He also has the distinction of having women do the shooting. (And they say Trump has a problem with women.)
President Lincoln may hold the prize for the most assassination attempts. Prior to a night at Ford’ s Theatre, there was a thwarted attempt in 1861 and a report that he was shot at at another time as he traveled back to Washington from an out of town retreat.
Unfortunately, assassinating – or trying to assassinate presidents and presidential candidates – is part of the American culture. Andrew Jackson’s life was spared when the assassin’s guns misfired. President Garfield was assassinated – as was President McKinley. President Theodore Roosevelt was wounded. His distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt dodged a bullet that hit and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak standing next to him. Guards thwarted an assassination attempt when two gunmen attempted to break into Blair House, where President Truman was living during the renovation of the White House. President Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt.
In addition to actual “attempts,” there have been times when the FBI or Secret Service have disrupted apparent planned assassinations. Trump had at least one of those, too. The sad fact is that American presidents receive death threats on a regular basis. The actual attempts are just the tip of the iceberg.
So … what about this latest attempt on Trump?
There are two significant takeaways. First is the question of security. The fact that the would-be shooter could position himself at a place where Trump was due to pass by suggests a failure on the part of the Secret Service.
It would have been more reassuring had they found the guy – who had been lying in wait for almost 12 hours – a lot sooner. It can be reasonably argued that the Secret Service should have swept that area long before Trump was even on the first tee. Especially since the fence was just a few yards from where Trump would be slowly travelling to the 7th hole tee box.
Personally, I do not see it as a lapse in security comparable to what happened in Pennsylvania. There was a bubble of security around Trump as he transversed the course — including agents well in advance of him.
They saw the shooter as they advanced and took immediate action before Trump was in sight of the potential assassin. They fired at the shooter — forcing his retreat without an opportunity to fire a single shot. They successfully neutralized the danger to Trump.
While the shooter’s location could have been better secured, the outcome showed that the Secret Service has redundancy in the protective procedures – and it was successful.
The second point is what motivated the would-be assassin. That is very clear from the evidence. The shooter was an extreme Trump hater, who believed the claims that the former President was a maniacal despot who would end American democracy. If elected, Trump would end future elections. Trump was frequently compared to Hitler – and even worse – by innumerable voices on the left – including high visibility political figures and social media influencers.
While President Biden, Vice President Harris and other prominent Democrats never called Trump a Hitler, they did reinforce those accusations by repeatedly saying Trump was an existential threat to democracy. Hillary Clinton said it the day after the thwarted assassination attempt.
The shooter seemed to believe that he was saving the American Republic from a heinous political monster. In his online posting, he used exactly the same language coming from Democrat leaders and the left-wing news media.
Those who have read my past commentaries know that I have consistently debunked the false narratives of an insurrection … a potential coup … and the end of the Republic. Those narratives are nothing less than campaign hyperbole – hyper hyperbole. It is dangerous and reckless.
Democrats have long claimed that Trump’s provocative rhetoric would induce nutcases to take action BUT ( a very big BUT) they take no responsibility for the language that clearly motivated the would-be assassin to make a serious attempt on the life of Trump.
You cannot have it both ways.
Following the attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, there was talk of tamping down the harsh rhetoric. That never happened. In fact, the Trump hate rhetoric intensified – largely due to the fact that all the past rhetoric was not taking down his numbers enough. Virtually the entire Harris campaign is based on a strategy of demonizing Trump since he holds the lead on the most critical issues of the economy: immigration and crime.
The through line can be drawn from the hateful and mendacious anti-Trump rhetoric and the mindset of the would-be shooter. The motivation is most obvious with the latest would-be assassin because he has told us so.
Unfortunately, the Harris campaign has painted itself into a corner. There is no way they can stop claiming that Trump is a threat to democracy and the future of a free Republic. They have already invested too much into that bogus claim. To now admit that it was all political BS would collapse the Harris campaign – and threaten a lot of down ballot democrats.
Whatever one thinks of Trump’s rhetoric, it is an entirely different matter — and a different discussion. One does not cancel the other.
It will be interesting to see how Team Harris handles the issue in the wake of an attempted assassination, clearly motivated by their extreme rhetoric – confirmed by the writings of the potential assassin.
In terms of the election, I do not think the latest assassination attempt to move the needle very much, if at all.
So, there ‘tis.