🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
If someone were genuinely in a position to upend our Constitution, destroy democracy, and lay waste to our valued American institutions, a visceral, even violent reaction might be understood from citizens committed to prevent it. But when those charges are the false smears of bitter partisans, no one should be surprised if one unhinged shooter acts on it anyway.
As I write this, we know almost nothing about the gunman who attempted to kill Donald Trump, so a detailed analysis of his motivation is yet to unfold. But we know what he intended to do, and that he came within inches of success. No matter what manifestos are now uncovered, no matter what perplexed friends, family and neighbors are about to be interviewed, there is a proper focus on the rank recklessness of rhetoric that has exploded political opposition into vicious personal attacks.
The attacks against Trump have long extended beyond harsh criticism of his policies. Since he launched his first presidential bid nine years ago, Democrats and a sliver of freaked-out Republicans have made the choice to shelve issue debates in favor of personal slanders, painting him as a monster who poses a threat to the nation's soul.
Many Trump enemies spent the hours following the shooting saying precisely the right things about unity, decency and prayers for Trump and his family. But those words lose heft when issued by people who have spent years issuing just the kind of vitriol that can lead unhinged lunatics to take action.
As informational holes are filled surrounding the mysteries of the shooter and his dark pursuits, let's focus on some things we do know.
First, this seems to be a simultaneous good news/bad news moment for the Secret Service. The images of valiant agents springing into action as the shots were fired bolsters the legacy of sacrifice that lofts that agency in our national esteem. But there is chilling counterpoint in the BBC story featuring witnesses who saw a man on a nearby roof with a visible rifle. Secret service protection at its best is a human enterprise subject to occasional imperfections, and hindsight is 20/20. But so was the apparent visual acuity of a man with Trump's head in his crosshairs. That will figure prominently as investigations unfold into the highs and lows of Secret Service performance on Saturday.
Looking forward, the coming days will be filled with the expected amount of attention to Trump, his condition, his thoughts about the assassination attempt, and the nation's reactions to what we have all witnessed. But all of those will unfold as the Republican party gathers in Milwaukee to officially anoint Trump as its nominee.
Any party convention is a week-long commercial pitch, a festival designed to attract voters in November. This week's GOP gathering will be precisely that, and much more. It will now be a celebration of the man indelibly etched in the national mind, in the form of an iconic photograph portraying him, freshly bloodied, pausing his rescuers to lift a defiant fist as an American flag flies in the background.
As stirring as the still image is, the video of those moments reveals more. The shots pop. Trump grabs his ear as if stung by a bee. It becomes immediately clear that an attempted murder is under way. The former president and scrambling agents drop him to the ground. As word spreads that the shooter has been neutralized, they rise with Trump, who asks for his shoes to be retrieved. As his head emerges from the scrum of dark-suited protectors, the stunned crowd launches into cheers of exultation as the would-be assassin's target pumps that fist, exhorting the crowd and the viewing nation: "Fight! Fight!"
Once it became clear that Trump was safe, the chattering hallways of social media lit up with speculation as to the political effect of an attempt to kill him. His fan base eagerly predicted that the landslide was now set in stone, and it may well be. But there are sixteen weeks of developments that lie ahead before November 5. When the Democrats gather in Chicago next month, their nominee may or may not be Joe Biden. Other events and news cycles may jostle the narratives of mid-summer.
But if the targeting of Trump by malicious prosecutions fired up his base, this attempt to literally target him for death will only add to a passion forged from multiple frustrations. Millions of Americans believe he was wronged by a flawed 2020 election result. They believe the barrage of lawfare attacks is the work of forces determined to thwart his agenda and their will. Now they believe his enemies will stop at literally nothing to keep him from returning to the White House.
Votes for Trump were always going to be a combination of support for him and a rebuke to his tormentors. Now they will take the form of a message that announces, "You tried to ruin him; you tried to jail him; you even tried to kill him. Your failure will be complete with his victory."
Mark Davis is a syndicated talk show host for the Salem Media Group on 660AM The Answer in Dallas-Ft. Worth, and a columnist for the Dallas Morning News and Townhall.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
