On the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump...
What We Should All Take From the Moment, and Why We Need to Cool Down the Temperature.
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First, I couldn't help but take note of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s RNC speech Monday. I did not necessarily agree with everything he said, but it was hard not to be interested in what he wanted to express to all sides of the aisle. Did it generate confusion and shock at the RNC? Sure. His points are ones that would find a better reception at the upcoming DNC. The invite should be open for O’Brien to speak at the DNC. He might find his message more welcomed—with open arms—in Chicago. Just like the DNC will welcome all workers, small businesses, farmers, and regular people who want to speak.
At each party’s convention, consider these two questions and if both parties ever address them: 1) what have the parties and their presidential nominees done so far, and what will they do in the future? And 2) what is at the center of their records and visions? It will be curious to know the policy contrast, beyond the usual slogans.
As difficult as it is, I did want to address the events of the past few days, mainly the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump.
While I am not a Trump supporter, I am relieved that the former President is safe and by-and-large unharmed in a significant way. Not to say that the piercing of his ear by a bullet is a comfortable situation by any circumstance.
I am also saddened to hear of the wounding of two Trump supporters, and the death of Corey Comperatore, a fellow Italian American who was a loving father and a brave firefighter. Political violence is never the solution to our disagreements, as we should see in the irreparable harm of innocent supporters who merely came to Butler, Pennsylvania to support a candidate of their choosing.
We all need to lower the temperature on our political discourse in America. If this helps, it is now new to us. In fact, right now it is not uncommon elsewhere in the world in places like France, Mexico, and Slovakia. Yes, the left is not perfect. I cringed at Madonna when she said in 2016-2017 she thought many times of “blowing up the White House.” It was a careless, idiotic, and stupid remark, period.
And most Americans across party lines condemn the looting and violence in the summer of 2020, including a number of BLM activists who were doing everything possible to set up peaceful rallies. There has similarly been significant pushback from all points of the political spectrum on those who praised Hamas and their vile Anti-Semitic rhetoric. These are only a few examples, Even in the past, people like former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney were kicked out of office because they fell into wormholes on issues like the 9/11 conspiracy.
Most people agree that we should lower the temperature. With that, I challenge both Democrats—yet much more so Republicans—to do the same.
Some Republican politicians have called on us all to lower the temperature in the aftermath of Saturday, as they should. I hope some of them take the time to reconsider their past statements and actions. Unfortunately, those statements and actions have been emblematic of the growing and unnecessary rise of political violence in these last 8 years.
Like when some said at campaign rallies to “knock the crap out of” protesters. Or when those same people vowed that, in another world, “they’d be carried out on stretchers.” Or when the people among the crowd in Charlottesville which carried torches while chanting “Jews will not replace us” were called “very fine people.” Neither Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan followers, or people who chose to ram others to death with their cars deserve to be called “very fine people.”
Or when protesters after George Floyd’s death were criticized as ANTIFA, when the vast majority had no affiliation with ANTIFA, and probably never heard of the word period. Did they deserve to be attacked with police riot shields and smoke grenades near Washington DC’s St. John’s Episcopal Church? People who burned the Minneapolis Police Department building in late May of 2020 should have been held accountable by the law. Protesters in DC later on should not have paid the price for the actions of some in Minneapolis.
How about the Squad members? They certainly have a different approach to politics from most people, and from myself in some ways. But do they deserve to be told to “go back” to their “home countries,” dangerous rhetoric which feeds a cycle of violence and intimidation that impacts them and their families?
Should poll workers be intimidated the way they have been since the 2020 election, just for their role in counting the votes? Should more than 140 Capitol Police officers have been bludgeoned and beaten almost to the point of death (and actual death in some occasions)? Did Mike Pence “deserve” to be hanged for performing his constitutional obligation in certifying the electors?
Is it acceptable that Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have to worry about their families and the threat of military tribunals or imprisonment? Is it acceptable that some people laughed off the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi after dismissing Nancy Pelosi’s legitimate fears in the years prior? Is it fair that Mitt Romney is run out of politics in the vicious way he was, on the basis of essentially one vote he cast in 2020? Does he deserve the threats of violence that come his way? Should the press ever be called “the enemy of the people?”
The answer should be simple. It is one of the easiest ways to lower the temperature. We don’t have to call immigrants and political opponents “vermin,” or say they are “poisoning the blood of our country” to prove our point. We don’t have to call our friends in the LGBTQ+ community “groomers.” We don’t have to call people “Marxists and Communists” who hate our country—just as we don’t have to use “fascists” ad-nauseum.
We definitely shouldn’t inflame the situation. We shouldn’t say there should be violence or “a bloodbath” if one side doesn’t win in 2024. We shouldn’t say a revolution can remain bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” We shouldn’t promote suspending or terminating the Constitution. We shouldn’t say the 1/6 insurrectionists were tourists or “hostages.” We shouldn’t promote “RINO hunting.” We shouldn’t call for “retribution.”
We definitely shouldn't say President Biden, who couldn’t have handled the situation any better this past weekend and now, is responsible for the attempted assassination of Trump. That is an outrageous and completely unsupported allegation, not least because the shooter is a registered Republican loaded up with guns and ammo (in a perverse interpretation of Second Amendment rights).
What makes it all the more interesting and hypocritical that the lead-off speakers at the RNC for the first two nights have targeted transgender people and “the Fake News Media.” Sounds like MTG and Kari Lake didn’t exactly get the message on toning down the incendiary rhetoric.
It only took a mere 4 days after the attempted assassination for the Republicans to return to their old ways. So, do I really think they will tone down the rhetoric over the next few days? To borrow an old cliche, I’ll believe it when I see it.
We will get back to the campaign beat shortly.