The left says it will be the death of democracy. The right says fight like hell or the nation will be lost. The center bemoans both, but hasn’t done much to quell the doom being used to motivate the extremes to action. There is, I hope, a substantial gap between the rhetoric and taking a gun in hand to act upon it, but given the millions of people on either edge, there will almost certainly be some who believe that an act of extreme violence is the moral thing to do when, they are repeatedly told, the threat is existential and must be stopped “by any means necessary.”
It’s come as a surprise that no one tried to assassinate Trump before. Granted, it wouldn’t have been easy to do, and would likely have ended in the shooter’s death, but as a criminal defense lawyer, the reality is that there are people whose minds are so twisted that they would do something so horrible and crazy. There are crazy people out there. There are violent people out there. They sometimes do crazy and violent things.
The question the day after a failed attempt is made is what to make of it, how a nation responds to it. Being shot at doesn’t make Trump a hero. Being shot at lends credence to Trump’s contention that “they,” whoever they are at any given moment, want to kill him to stop him.
Some on the left will say the right things about how unacceptable violence is, while secretly wishing the shooter had better aim. To some on the right, the shooter opened the door to their most angry and violent fears, and this violence must be met by their own violence. “They did it first” is always a popular rationalization among the thinking challenged.
The opportunity is presented for a nation to take a deep breath and see what we’ve become, see what it’s driven someone to do, and realize that this is not the way out of the hole of existentialism we’ve dug. This is a moment we can all decide to stop digging. This is a moment we can decide to stop those on the fringes from digging, that we’ve let the fringes scream at each other long enough and it’s time to put an end to the cries of existentialism that brought a shooter to a rooftop in Pennsylvania to stop a wannabe dictator by any means necessary.
The fringes are far louder, more motivated and inclined to swarm, making those of us capable of tolerance disinclined to speak out and be the next target of their vitriolic attacks. The extremists are unlikely to gain any insight from this act of violence, and so it is incumbent on us to risk their outrage and put a stop to the insanity. The attempted assassination of Trump is an opportunity for the fringes to grow even more extreme, or for the grownups of this nation to tell the crazies to end their existential war, stop digging their hole of existentialism and grow up.
Grow the fuck up.
“Some on the left will say the right things about how unacceptable violence is, while secretly wishing the shooter had better aim”
And then get dogpiled on by their base for lying about these things and letting them down.
Sequel to The Lord of the Flies, in which the children kill the grownups who arrive to save them and continue their war.
I would have picked “Long Time Gone” myself…
It’s entirely possible to want Trump gone, without wanting him gone in this manner. I don’t think if he were killed, it would improve things. I think it more likely would make things worse. So any progressives, or liberals like myself, if they wish the guy had not missed, are not just lacking something as human beings; they’re also idiots.
That said, it’s sadly true that these folk — extremists from both groups — are probably not really able to grow the fuck up. Until the manipulative wannabe leaders stop with their deliberate misuse of rhetorical moves meant to fire them up, I don’t think we can have much hope that the manipulated will take a step back. If they had that capability, those firing them up would not be so effective in the first place.
I do not think there is a way to stop the fringies from screaming at each other.
Agreed. It is the craziest people in every movement who drive it. They have the “fire in their belly” to do whatever it takes to succeed. Unfortunately, there are NEVER moderates with fire in their belly.
Maybe this event will mark “peak crazy”.
Fringies screaming at each other is not the issue. Ostensible moderates egging on the crazies by asserting that a candidate is so unfit for office that they must be stopped at any cost is the issue.
And what a photo op! This is one of the greatest inspirational photos of all time, rivalling the Iwo Jima flag raising photo that it mirrors:
This will shock exactly zero regular readers but though you and I disagree on a lot publicly we stand unified here.
Everyone needs to grow the fuck up right now.
A huge problem now is that Trump has a clear argument for any crazy theory.
Lead with, “they tried to assassinate me….” and nothing that follows can be dismissed as inherently loony.
Who “they” are might buy some air time but now you are explaining, and explainers are future election losers.
Change the explain=lose dynamic and the U.S. has a chance. But that requires voters realizing politicians (regardless of party) have more in common with each other, just as voters (regardless of party) have more in common with each other than they do with politicians.
“It’s come as a surprise that no one tried to assassinate Trump before.”
For all we know people have been attempts (I’d be willing to bet there have been failed attempts on every President since the Secret Service was tasked with protecting the President, for that matter) and it was stopped before it got to shots being fired. The Secret Service is pretty good about keeping their successes secret. It’s their failures that get all the publicity.