We’re at a crossroads following Trump assassination attempt

The political world was shaken over the weekend by the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Footage from the event showed Trump clutch his right ear and go down after gunshots rang out. Quickly rising to his feet amid a phalanx of U.S. Secret Service agents, Trump pumped a fist at the crowd as blood seeped from the side of his head. The agents responded swiftly to protect the former president and shot the apparent attacker, a registered Republican, to death.

From the outset, both Democrat and Republican leaders denounced the attack. President Biden said in a statement he was “grateful to hear that [Trump’s] safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally.”

I think it’s fair to say that most of us, regardless of our political perspectives, are grateful the former president survived such a horrific incident. Thankfully Trump escaped the apparent attempt on his life with only minor injuries.

However, it did not take long for partisan politics to emerge. Several Republican politicians, among them Republican Vice Presidential nominee, J. D. Vance, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and Congresspeople Marjorie Taylor Greene and Steve Scalise blamed the far left and liberal media for demonizing Trump.

Georgia Rep. Mike Collins went so far as to state Biden “sent the orders” for the shooting and urged the local prosecutor to file charges against the president “for inciting an assassination.” Mind you, this same Collins once ran a campaign ad in which he fired a rifle at former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and created a cardboard box of supposedly RINO Republicans.

Accordingly, there were those on the left who wasted no time in taking to social media to make dubious assumptions, posting their own “false flag” conspiracies. The now-famous photo of Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents, pumping his fist with small streaks of blood across his face, was too clear and good not to have been staged, certain people argued. Dmitri Mehlhorn, a prominent Democratic strategist, emailed journalists encouraging them to consider the possibility that the conservative right staged the shooting to bolster Trump. After intense criticism, he apologized for his remarks.

Horrendous as it was, it’s not the first time someone has shot at a president or leading presidential candidate. Lone gunmen shot dead Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Back in 1912, former president Teddy Roosevelt, campaigning for a political comeback, took a bullet in the chest area, and other shooters failed to murder President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Gerald R. Ford.

In 1972, Arthur Bremer, a man searching for fame, shot Gov. George C. Wallace (D-AL) at a campaign event during his presidential run. John Hinckley attacked Ronald Reagan out of a deranged obsession to impress actress Jodie Foster. Such violence has deep historical roots.

The truth is Trump has adamantly engaged in the acerbic language of political violence for several years, demonizing his political enemies and ratcheting up partisan tensions to a frenzy. During his high-pitched fever rallies in 2016, he encouraged his supporters to chant that Hillary Clinton should be locked up. In June 2017, then-President Trump stated there were “very fine people” among the neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville.

He mused about considering strategies to shoot would-be immigrants in the legs or feed them to alligators as they tried to cross the southern border into the United States. Trump also advocated for the execution of Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and just recently reposted social media calls for televised military tribunals to be held for members of the House Committee that investigated the January 6 insurrection.

Donald Trump’s attempted assassination may stir up political division and animosity even further. Alternatively, it could serve as a reflection point for serious, direct, impassioned yet civil and thoughtful debate. Let’s hope that it is the latter, Donald.

By surviving the would-be assassin’s bullet, Trump spared the nation a collective bullet and another presidential tragedy.

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.