America has always been a violent country. Several presidents, candidates, and leading public figures have been assassinated, with attempts made on others including FDR and Reagan. What happened to Trump isn’t a historical outlier.
It shouldn’t be this way. Political violence is bad for everyone, and no one should wish for this. But it’s hypocritical for Republicans to blame the attempts against Trump’s life on Democratic rhetoric, and such accusations deserve to be dismissed out of hand. Trump’s would-be assassins were deranged attention-seekers, and both were Trump supporters in the past.
It was Republicans who filled America with guns, made them accessible to everyone, and saturated politics with violent rhetoric. In that respect, they made their own nest. In addition, outdoor rallies and golf courses are difficult venues to protect, and the Secret Service warned him weeks ago against playing golf at the course near Mar-a-Lago.
America lives with mass shootings and school shootings. J. D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, calls those tragedies a “fact of life,” implying they’re unavoidable. Does he think this undercurrent of violence won’t spill into politics, too?
Monday brought another stunning example of Vance’s hypocrisy. He said, “Look, we can disagree with one another, we can debate one another, but we cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist and if he’s elected it is going to be the end of American democracy.”
But if the shoe fits, wear it. It’s entirely fair for Democrats to warn voters what Trump and Vance have in store for them if they achieve power. Vance himself comes across as a proto-fascist to people who study his views (see, e.g., the article here).
CNN says, “What Vance didn’t mention was that Trump has repeatedly told the American people that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is a fascist whose election would mean the end of the country itself. In fact, Trump called Harris a fascist at least twice last week alone.” He also called her “a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist” at a rally in Arizona. (See story here.)
Vance caused dozens of bomb threats (details here) that closed schools in Springfield, Ohio, by amplifying a false claim that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets. He defended this by saying he’s a storyteller and will continue to tell “stories” to force the media to pay attention to “the immigration problem.” What problem? The Haitian immigrants in Springfield are here legally, work in factories and warehouses, and aren’t bothering anyone.
Memo to Ohio Republican officials: Stop pussyfooting around Vance’s lying about Haitian immigrants and the mayhem he’s causing, and say what it is (see story here).
Meanwhile, other Republicans wonder out loud why nobody has taken a shot at Harris. The way Trump, Vance, and other Republicans talk about her, I’m wondering that myself. Are they wishing for that? I’m not sure they aren’t.
Cross your fingers and hope this election isn’t decided by a bullet, or by another attempt by Trump to overthrow our democracy.