The shooting at Trump brought Biden down
The reflection of the failed assassination attempt on Trump in the U.S. elections
The shooting at Trump brought Biden down. The attack on Donald Trump may have altered the course of the election campaign and had unpleasant consequences for Biden and the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump, after arriving in Milwaukee to attend the Republican convention that officially nominates him as the White House candidate, referred to the armed attack on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, and said, ‘I could be dead right now.’
After getting off the plane that brought him to the city of Wisconsin, the great capitalist raised his fist to the sky—a victory sign reminiscent of the image created immediately after the shootings and immortalized in a photo by the Associated Press, which is now a symbol of this election campaign and one of the darkest days in America today.
A truly surreal experience, Trump, who had a large white bandage on his right ear, said that the doctor in the hospital told him he had never seen anything like it. He called it a miracle.
Meanwhile, the former president’s photo with a raised fist and his bloodied face, in a pose contrasting with the image of a fragile and elderly president, was already printed on T-shirts and merchandise, and on his campaign website, he again asked his supporters to continue their financial contributions and unite with a spirit of cohesion and peace.
On flags bearing Trump’s image, the phrase ‘Fearless’ is written in large letters.
A message to a shocked America and a signal to the base: ‘Make America Great Again.’ It seems that the Republican Party these days will confirm the beating heart of the party.
Trump as a victim of harassment
Although this attack resulted in only minor injuries for the Republican candidate that can be treated within a few days after the attack, its consequences on the country and the election campaign less than four months before the vote will be much more enduring.
President Joe Biden and the entire Democratic Party undoubtedly condemned this action, and Trump himself also asked everyone to moderate their tone.
However, the Republican reaction to this event was varied.
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, now introduced as the vice-presidential candidate for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, pointed the finger at political opponents, calling them the moral instigators of this attack.
Vance wrote on X that the main premise of Biden’s campaign is that President Donald Trump is a tyrannical fascist who must be stopped at all costs, and this rhetoric directly led to the assassination attempt on him.
His statements reflect those of other Republican Party officials who say Trump is a victim of harassment—a unified direction in which two impeachments, investigations, and criminal proceedings against him are part of a coordinated plan to prevent his political activity.
This is a slippery slope in a highly polarized country where political violence has manifested itself in various forms in recent years, and firearms are currently an out-of-control emergency.
An obscure event
The attack on Donald Trump has already had its first positive effect for him. In the past few hours, this capitalist has faced an unprecedented wave of international and domestic support.
Moreover, the incident in Butler has dispelled controversies related to Biden’s age and brought Trump back to the center stage, but unlike in the past, not in connection with judicial events or some of Trump’s provocative statements.
An attack aimed at his potential physical elimination has practically erased all serious accusations, procedural charges, public doubts, and voter confusion regarding the controversial former president.
The initial hot polls make us think that this support could turn into an electoral consensus and could shape the race for the White House from here on.
This event, like many of the events in recent months in U.S. politics, is unknown and ambiguous. On one hand, there is a current president and candidate who has been re-endorsed in the primaries, but his party members tend to want him to withdraw from the presidential race because they believe he is no longer in suitable physical and mental condition. On the other hand, a former president on trial for various charges, who has even been convicted before, was injured during a campaign visit and is now being praised as a leader.
Democrats resigned
On the Democratic front, despite calls for calm, the atmosphere is more indicative of disbelief and resignation.
In the past few hours, the former president and next Republican candidate have faced a wave of support, and it is evident that he now intends to turn it into political consensus—just a few thousand votes in key states are enough to bring him back to the White House.
Furthermore, physical violence against Trump deprives the Democrats of their main campaign slogan, which is that the former president is an extremist and his polarizing controversial persona is a threat to democracy.
A political strategist close to the Democratic Party explains that this message died after an armed man tried to kill the potential candidate of one of the two main parties.
According to the same source, the bullet that hit Trump probably saved Biden’s candidacy by stopping Democrats’ calls for his withdrawal and condemning all those who do not believe in his potential re-election.
Contemporary polarization, elite and institutional disagreements, and the delegitimization of politics have created the perfect ground for this political violence.
It was employed on that Saturday night against a political figure who perhaps embodies and exacerbates this polarization and the degradation of public discourse and political confrontation.
Now Trump has promised to moderate his tone to deliver a moderate and inclusive message to a broken and fragmented country.
Now we must see if there is hope that Trump, after years of relentless verbal violence combined with severe narrow-mindedness against any political opponent who stood against him, will adopt a conciliatory and tolerant behavior.
In the end, perhaps this action has somewhat realized the epic and masculine image that Trump has always wished to create for himself—a picture of a man victimized by government justice, elites, and corrupt politics, a fighter who does not bend and fights on behalf of people who have also been betrayed, and ultimately, this charismatic leader succeeds in establishing a direct and unmediated connection with them.