What the investigation into the attempted murder of former President Donald Trump could mean for the rest of the election season

ROCHESTER, NY (WROC) — As new details emerge about the suspect in connection with the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, area political experts are reacting to the situation.

Both political experts News 8 spoke with told me they were shocked, horrified and incredulous when they heard the news about former President Trump, and both called it proof of the division the country must continue to perpetuate.

“Words were our weapons, not the kind of hate we saw yesterday,” says Curt Smith of Rochester, who was also a former speechwriter for former President George HW Bush. He says things have changed in recent decades after decades of witnessing political campaigns firsthand.

“We used to decide our elections the old-fashioned way, we argued, hopefully not with too much dogma, and then made our own decisions,” Smith said.

Professor Tim Kneeland of Nazareth University sees it similarly, adding that new technologies have helped candidates and parties “demonize each other.”

“I think in some ways over the last generation we have created great expectations that the government cannot meet, while at the same time social media has enabled a kind of democratization of opinion formation and helped create this great divide,” Kneeland said.

As for the rest of the election campaign, Smith said he believes the “great silent middle,” that is, the people who are not inclined toward any particular candidate, are quieter than ever.

When asked about the future political climate, Kneeland describes feelings of both hope and fear.

“I just hope we don’t hear about revenge, anger or retaliation. I do. So I’m optimistic. But I’m also just waiting to see what happens. And if that’s the case, then maybe we can have an election that goes beyond what we’ve seen in the last few election cycles and gets back to the political issues,” Kneeland said.

Kneeland also advises those sharing posts about the incident on social media to think twice before hitting “send” to break the pattern of “inflammatory rhetoric.”