How to Walk Back from the Brink
What the country—and all of us—must do to minimize the danger that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump will beget further violence.
Shots rang out at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania earlier today. The former president was brought to the floor as his Secret Service detail rushed to protect him. Before they could lead him away, he made them stop. Bleeding from the ear, he raised his fist in defiance. The image became iconic the instant it was captured.
This is a deeply perilous moment for America. It has been decades since anybody made this serious an attempt on the life of an American president, and much longer since anybody did so with political tensions running as high as they are right now.
A lot now depends on how America reacts to this outrage. In the hours and days to come, certain things need to happen if the country is to contain the threat of escalation.
Politicians—especially Democrats—must condemn the attack in the strongest possible terms, setting the clear expectation that political violence will never be tolerated in the United States. President Biden’s quick and emphatic condemnation must become universal. Democrats must make it clear that political violence is an affront to America’s core identity. The more critical they have been of Trump, the more loudly they will have to reiterate that the peaceful resolution of differences is most important precisely when our differences seem so stark and the threat of violence looms so large.
Everyone who comments on public affairs must refrain from making incendiary statements. In many ways, it’s already too late: the right (some portions of the right) is blaming the mainstream media, as if its coverage of Trump was an incitement to violence, while the left (some portions of the left) celebrated the attack, making phrases like “one job” and “how could you miss” go viral. Given the state of the discourse, this kind of irresponsibility was to be expected; but we must, in the hours and days to come, firmly push back against it.
Each of us must refrain from unfounded speculation about the presumptive shooter, or his motives, until the police have done their work, or verified facts emerge. In some ways, the ubiquity of digital technology worked to our advantage: the attack was broadcast live, we saw what happened, we saw that Trump survived, that he was injured, that there were gunshots. It’s a small blessing, and should constrain some of the inevitable conspiracy theorizing that will follow this event. Competing narratives will certainly emerge from this crime—indeed, the myth-making is already underway. Until we get a clear picture, it will take a heroic collective effort to prevent cynical speculation from taking over the narrative.
The 2024 election must proceed as planned. There’s a cliché about the peaceful transfer of power, about the importance of the normal functioning of America’s democratic process. These norms have been strained in recent years. This moment could turn out to be worse. It is the kind of situation that can set off an escalation to mass violence. We know what it takes to conduct a presidential election: how to keep it secure, how to manage crowds and protect the integrity of the electoral process. The work of making sure those things happen begins now—failure to prepare for the coming storm could be the greatest mistake America’s collective institutions ever made.
America’s democracy has not looked more on edge since the run-up to the Civil War. But while violence can easily beget violence, there is no inevitability to that escalatory spiral. Tonight’s events ought to concentrate minds. Reacting with integrity could strengthen Americans’ shared commitment to reconciling their political differences through constitutional means. A reckless response would push us one more step towards the abyss.
Luke Hallam is a senior editor at Persuasion.
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We should not forget that an innocent bystander lost his or her life. That is a horrific and irreparable tragedy.
I am in complete agreement with the sentiments of this essay and the message is important. My only observation is that the Civil War metaphor has become an overused rhetorical trap. It assumes that there exists a grand divide between two hostile armies. We are supposed to be the red and the blue instead of the blue and the gray. I don’t believe that the majority of Americans see themselves as divided from their fellow citizens as much as it is a narrative pushed by those who earn their bread through division. In this sense, most of us are innocent bystanders.
Perhaps it is because I am becoming old that I do not look back to the Civil War. Instead, last night’s tragedy reminded me of being told of President Kennedy’s assignation while riding home on the school bus. People my age have the shared experience of asking “where were you when heard about JFK, Bobby, and MLK?” The memory of it all overwhelmed me when I visited the JFK museum some years back. Sadly, we are all reliving it now.
Thank you for this post. It can be hard to separate from one's political passions at a moment like this, but this is exactly the time when that separation is most important. Political violence always leads to innocent deaths as did this one. The right thing to do is to react from our best selves. While I have strong political beliefs, I will never support this kind of violence in our country. I happened to hear the news a short time after it happened, and quickly went to FB to oppose such actions. Small step from someone with a small level of influence.