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Reports of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Sunday at one of his Florida golf courses highlight the unconscionable and unjustifiable. Even more alarmingly, it’s the second attack against the former president in as many months.
Wild scenarios have followed both events, including the kinds of conspiracy theories that have become much too common in American politics. One popular social media chain suggests that the latest was a staged event hoping to repeat Trump’s rise in popularity following the first attack on July 13 in Butler, Penn., in which he was injured.
On Sunday, Secret Service agents reportedly fired in the direction of a rifle muzzle they saw protruding from bushes near about 400 yards ahead of where Trump and others were playing golf in West Palm Beach. They later arrested a man who allegedly fled the scene, and recovered a rifle, spotting scope, camera and two backpacks from the bushes.
We might never know what motivated the first attacker; he was killed at the scene. Sunday’s incident is still under investigation. We can’t help but wonder if virulent political rhetoric was a factor.
Similar statements after the incidents can’t be allowed.
To his credit, Trump has not changed his campaign schedule following the latest threat although security around him has increased. However, he has blamed the attacks on the opposition.
“I really believe the rhetoric from the Democrats (is) is making the bullets fly,” he told The Washington Post. In a social media post on Tuesday, he also repeated his intent to imprison his political enemies, including candidates, donors and election workers he believes engage in “unscrupulous behavior.”
J.D. Vance, his running mate, speaking at a Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition event Monday, complained that “no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump.”
Also on Sunday, before the incident in Florida, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire had posted on its X social media account, “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American Hero.” The post was later deleted.
Meanwhile, Democrats have called Trump a threat to democracy itself.
Let’s hope such talk doesn’t give anybody any ideas.
No violent attack — against a public official, candidate or anybody else — is justified. Our system of governance is built upon free and open elections. There is no better way.
Violence, at all levels, has become far too common in our country — so much so that federal officials list it as a major health risk on the same level as cancer and heart disease. We should seek to defuse the threat of violence and anything that contributes to it, including incendiary comments.
We must find ways to reduce the antagonism and hate that has become far too common in American politics, and in our society in general. Let us hope that the principle actors in our political arena, from candidates themselves to those who support them, recognize that while the attackers bear the ultimate responsibility for any violence they commit, we should guard against any statements that might motivate them.
