As James has already covered, yesterday there was another assassination attempt on former President Trump. Thankfully, the Secret Service located and confronted the individual while the former President was out of range, and the gunman didn’t fire any shots at Trump. We will also learn a lot more about the attacker in the days to come as the Secret Service successfully arrested him. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few reflections on this second assassination attempt and the surrounding dialog.
Increase Trump’s security detail
While Trump, as a former President and a current Presidental Candidate, has a secret service detail, it isn’t as large as the detail for a sitting President. From the BBC News:
Trump does not receive the same level of protection that a sitting president does, Sheriff Bradshaw pointed out. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded,” he said.
But two former Secret Service agents said Trump needs more protection than other former presidents, given that he was running for the White House again.
“We now have to re-evaluate,” Barry Donadio told BBC News. “Should all these candidates get the same presidential protective package? I think that’s probably going to have to be the answer.”
McDonald agreed. He said the risk of “copycat” attacks prompted questions: “Is someone going to get a tiny bit closer, is somebody going to have another high-powered rifle and is somebody going to be able to inflict some serious damage?”
Politicians across the divide felt the same, with New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, saying Trump required “maximum protection”. [source]
Increasing the size of Trump’s detail for the remainder of the election cycle is a no brainer and should be done immediately.
Trump and Vance split on the danger of rhetoric
Life comes at you fast. Just yesterday morning, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate J. D. Vance clearly stated that politicians shouldn’t be held responsible for the results of their rhetoric. On Face The Nation he said:
But we don’t believe, Margaret, in a heckler’s veto in this country. You can condemn violence on the one hand, while also saying that there have been terrible problems caused by Kamala Harris’ open border in Springfield. Now, you said that these are false rumors. … [Continued justification for spreading racist and xenophobic rumors clipped]… I would appreciate it if the American media showed up and did some real investigation, rather than amplifying the worst people in the world. Why is somebody calling in a bomb threat, Margaret? It’s because they want attention. I think that we should ignore these ridiculous psychopaths who are threatening violence on a small Ohio town, and focus on the fact that we have a vice president who’s not doing her job in protecting that small Ohio town.” [source]
Vance is clearly indicating that he doesn’t feel that those bad actors should be able to prevent him from continuing to spread lies about the legal Haitian migrant community. Following his logic, if the people calling in bomb threats that are disrupting life in Springfield and terrorizing the legal Haitian migrant community in Springfield are “rediculous psychopaths,” surely the man with a long criminal history and a clear record of mental illness falls into that category too. So why should Democrats be expected to stop talking about the former President’s past actions, including unlawfully attempting to overthrow the results of the 2020 Presidential Election?
Of course, former President Trump has other ideas. From Fox News:
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said of the gunman in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
Trump pointed to Biden and Harris’ past comments casting Trump as a “threat to democracy,” while telling Americans they are “unity” leaders.
“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people that want to destroy our country.”
He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.” [source]
So which is it? And suppose you agree that Trump is correct, what is your defense for Trump and Vance’s racist and largely baseless accusations about the legal Haitian migrant community in Springfield and others in places like Aurora, CO?
Republicans as “victims” of their own mass shooting strategy
After the first assassination attempt, which occurred just before the Republican National Convention, many right-leaning pundits believed that shooting would help Trump win the White House. And yet, it disappeared from the public discourse within two weeks. Granted, there was other major political news that then happened following that shooting. The point remains that the only place, prior to yesterday’s attempt, where you saw the first attempt discussed was on Trump’s Truth Social feed, which regularly reminded people that “[X number] of days ago President Trump survived an assassination attempt.”
One explanation for this is that Republicans have been a bit too successful for their own good when it comes to successfully getting the public to move on from mass shootings. In the past, to deflect discussions of gun control in the wake of mass shootings, Republicans and their allies in the gun lobby, have focused their crisis management on the shooter’s mental illness and how these events are “a way of life” in America (thanks J. D. Vance). Given the clear signs of mental illness from the man who just attempted to shoot the former President and the overall lack of discussion about gun control in this election, I think we should expect the same thing to happen here.
Also, it helps to police your own house first
Some commenters will clutch their pearls about this post and how it doesn’t take this second attempt on the President’s life seriously enough. FWIW, I think I am treating this far more seriously than Republicans and MAGA folks have treated past physical attacks on Democrats. For example:
I mean, that’s just one of Donald Trump’s sons, who is also a key campaign advisor and surrogate. I’m sure someone can explain how this is appropriate.
It’s also worth calling out that only a few hours before the shooting, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (who are Trump supporters) tweeted out the following (before deleting it):
If commenters want to call me out for hypocracy about my side, go for it. But at least do me the favor of finding people who are as close to Harris and Walz as Don Jr is to Trump to make the argument.
