Attempt to kill Trump adds to ugly history of political violence. It must stop | Opinion
Donald Trump came within inches of losing his life Saturday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, the former president was said to be well, according to family members, after surviving an assassination attempt in broad daylight.
In light of this contemptible and unacceptable event, we believe that this is not the time to double down on the darkness of political division that has bordered on hatred in our political discourse.
This is the time to turn the volume down on a brand of politics where opponents paint each other with dehumanizing characterizations.
It is hard not to fear this country plunging even deeper into a darkness of hatred and division. We must be better than this. And we will.
The gun violence that has plagued our schools and our streets has now turned the most contentious presidential race in modern times into a truly dangerous spectacle. The sight of Trump, reaching for his ear as an apparent bullet grazed it, Secret Service agents rushing to protect him, was horrifying.
This should not be a partisan moment for anyone in this country. No candidate should be at risk of being killed simply by running for political office. There is no place for violence in our democracy. The attack on Donald Trump was nothing short of despicable.
Sadly, what happened Saturday in Pennsylvania is a violent extension of our contemporary politics that too often borders on hate. When candidates and opposing factions vilify and dehumanize political opponents routinely, the venom of the listening public does not necessarily end with mere words. In a country with more guns than people, it only takes one deranged person to turn violent rhetoric into violent actions.
Instead of being shocked into a shared sense of contrition, some voices on social media sought to exploit the violence in Pennsylvania or made sport of it. Instead of being tools of understanding, our technological advances have made instantaneous communication a public square of vilification.
If you respond to what happened Saturday by pointing fingers at people and organizations you oppose, then you are part of the problem. If you find humor in what happened Saturday, then you are part of the problem. If you support in any way what happened Saturday, then you are part of the problem.
Our country has an ugly history of political violence; what happened Saturday was not new. Too often we resort to political rhetoric that detaches Americans from a shared sense of community. And they react - out of fear, anger and loathing of “the other” - by attempting to destroy what they can’t abide.
Political candidates have lost their lives at the hands of angry assassins. Communities of color have been terrorized by them. It’s part of who we have been in our past, and it’s who we were on Saturday, but it isn’t who we have to be moving forward.
Saturday was a terrible day for our country. More than anything, we wish this day would be an alarm clock for all of us. We need to wake up to the divisions undermining our great nation. Now is the not the time for the politics of personal destruction.
Now is the time for our country to remember that our freedoms allow us to disagree, but also call to us to remember the responsibility we have to each other to share this nation and all its promise.
It’s up to us to preserve those freedoms and to remember that our descendants could one day judge Saturday as a symbol of how we have failed. We must do better.
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This story was originally published July 13, 2024 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Attempt to kill Trump adds to ugly history of political violence. It must stop | Opinion."