Attack on Trump could trigger further political violence in the US

By James Oliphant, Gram Slattery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a country already in turmoil, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has enraged his supporters, disrupted the Democratic campaign and raised fears of further political violence ahead of the November election.

Trump’s Republican allies portrayed him as a hero on Saturday, seizing on the image of him with a bloody ear and raised fist as he appeared to mouth the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

While Trump regularly used violent language toward his supporters, advisers and allies of the former president turned the tables on his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, saying it was the demonization of the Republican presidential candidate that led to the assassination.

“Today is not an isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to the assassination attempt on President Trump,” U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, a leading candidate for Trump’s vice presidential nomination, said on X.

Biden quickly tried to defuse the situation by condemning the attack as unacceptable political violence and withdrawing campaign ads attacking Trump.

“There is no place for this kind of violence in America. It is sick,” Biden told reporters.

The shooter’s motive is not yet known. The suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was a registered Republican, according to state voter records. He had previously donated $15 to a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians.

In the short term, the attack is likely to boost Trump’s appearances this week at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he will accept his party’s presidential nomination, and add to the already existing grief and alienation his supporters feel toward the country’s political class.

A few hours after the shooting, Trump’s campaign team sent a text message asking voters to donate to the campaign. “They’re not after me, they’re after you,” the message said.

Billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman also immediately endorsed Trump. “I fully support President Trump and hope for his speedy recovery,” Musk said on X, the social media site he owns.

Chris LaCivita, co-manager of Trump’s campaign team, said on X: “For years and continuing today, left-wing activists, Democratic donors, and now even Joe Biden have made disgusting comments and descriptions about the shooting of Donald Trump… it is past time they are held accountable for this… the best way to do that is through the ballot box.”

LaCivita was apparently referring to recent comments by Biden in which he urged his supporters to focus on defeating Trump rather than on his own performance. “So we’re done debating, it’s time to target Trump,” said Biden, who has always condemned political violence.

POLITICAL ATTACKS

The United States is battling the largest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s. Of the 14 deadly political attacks since the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, in which the perpetrator or suspect had a clear partisan political orientation, 13 were right-wing extremist attackers. One was from the left.

Despite being a former president, Trump has campaigned as an outsider, complaining that he has long been targeted by the federal “deep state” and the Biden administration to prevent him from regaining power.

He typically used violent, demeaning and even apocalyptic rhetoric, warning of a “bloodbath” if he was not elected and claiming that immigrants living illegally in the United States would “poison the blood of our country.”

Some Republicans have already expressed anger because he continues to add fuel to the fire.

“If the country wasn’t a powder keg before, it is now,” said Chip Felkel, a Republican activist in South Carolina who opposes Trump.

Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said the shooting could benefit Trump politically because it reinforces his campaign narrative that the country has lost its way.

“The assassination attempt creates sympathy for Trump,” Bannon said. “It also reinforces the idea to voters that there is something fundamentally wrong in this country, and that is an idea that is generating support for him.”

In May, Trump was found guilty of conspiracy to cover up an affair with a porn star. The conviction did little to change the outcome of the race and suggested that supporters on both sides remained firm in their positions.

Biden faces a debate within his own party over whether he should step down as the Democratic nominee amid concerns he is no longer fit for the job. He says his doctors have told him he is in good shape. Trump has benefited from Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month in some polls, but others show the race is even.

Many voters have already turned away from Biden and Trump. The chaos surrounding the candidates could contribute to voters feeling that the country’s problems are insoluble and that the divide between the parties cannot be bridged.

Republican U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, who was shot by a gunman in 2017, told Fox News that violent campaign rhetoric must stop.

“All it takes is one person who is completely crazy and hears that, goes out and acts accordingly and thinks that’s their signal to take someone out,” he said.

(Reporting by James Oliphant and Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Philippa Fletcher)