A few weeks ago, addressing a conference of conservative evangelical Christians, Donald J. Trump portrayed himself as a sacrificial lamb defending people of faith against a godless deep state. He presented himself as a Christ-like figure, bleeding from “wounds all over.”
“In the end, they’re not after me,” Trump proclaimed. “They’re after you. I just happen to be, very proudly, standing in their way.”
I thought of this when the news broke on Saturday that a would-be assassin had come within inches of killing the former president. A New York Times reporter at the scene heard a man in the crowd shout, “Trump was just elected today, folks. He is a martyr.”
The attack may indeed help clear Trump’s path to a second term, the already iconic photo of a bloodied Trump, fist raised, playing into the contrast with an enfeebled Joe Biden—and reenforcing the collective grievance of the electorate’s disenchanted voters. The incident also complicates the already hugely complicated question of whether the Democrats should replace Biden at the top of the ticket. A chorus of Trump supporters has already blamed Biden, along with the news media and liberals in general, for fomenting the urge that drove his would-be murderer. The governor of Texas caught the conspiratorial spirit, writing on X, “They try to jail him. They try to kill him. It will not work. He is indomitable.” One Republican congressman posted on X that “Joe Biden sent the orders” to have Trump killed.
Whatever the motivation or pathology of the shooter, the assassination attempt feels like a predictable symptom of the climate of political violence that Trump has encouraged and exploited. (Yes, this is an appropriate occasion for blaming the victim.) Trump did not beget the bloody undercurrent in American politics—he is the third president in my lifetime to have been shot—but Trump is the first president who has embraced and celebrated violence.
The former president has made heroes of the deadly mob that stormed the Capitol on 6th January 2021. He has cozied up to neofascist white militants like the Proud Boys. He has demonised institutions fundamental to the functioning of our democracy, including the courts, federal law enforcement and the news media. His rally rhetoric bristles with calls for vengeance and retribution. His followers are not speaking metaphorically when they warn of civil war if Trump does not return to the White House.
It’s not just the Trumpists. American society as a whole has been too complacent about the growing tribalism of our politics, the radicalising power of social media, the proliferation of malevolent disinformation, the crazy gun culture we take for granted. The New York Times reported a survey conducted by the Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago, that found “10 percent of respondents agreed that the use of force was justified to prevent Mr. Trump from becoming president, and 7 percent said that the use of force was justified to return Mr. Trump to the presidency.” These trends, the researchers observe, constitute “a large mass of kindling, waiting for an incendiary moment.” And that survey was conducted 18 months ago; since then, the acrimony of campaign season has only worsened.
Could the Saturday shooting be such a moment for America’s volatile democracy?
