This week, a would-be assassin aimed a rifle at Donald Trump through the fence at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service saw the man and shot at him; he was later arrested. The alleged shooter has a long record of clear-cut, left-wing hatred: He has opined that Trump ought to be killed by Iran, he has only donated to Democrats since 2019, and his truck sports a Biden/Harris bumper sticker.
This makes the second assassination attempt on Trump in two months. Trump has now been subjected to as many near shootings during that period as Kamala Harris has solo interviews.
Why?
The answer is obvious: America is a large country, with a large number of unstable people. Overheated rhetoric generally appeals to the unhinged; the unhinged may take seriously that rhetoric and attempt violence as a consequence. That doesn’t mean that those who spout such rhetoric are criminally responsible for the actions of the violent. It does mean that when the temperature is raised on the political stove, it becomes more predictable for the pot to boil over.
We have now been subjected to a full decade of talk about how Donald Trump is a full-scale threat to the American republic. President Joe Biden has given speeches labeling Trump a danger to the soul of democracy. Vice President Kamala Harris has said that the very fabric of our country is at stake. Trump has been compared to Adolf Hitler more often than any public figure of our lifetime. Is it an enormous shock that someone with mental issues might think that taking a shot at Trump would be justified — heroic, even?
It’s certainly true that overheated rhetoric exists on all sides of the political aisle these days. In understanding just why Trump has been subjected to two separate assassination attempts in eight weeks, it isn’t enough just to blame violent rhetoric, though. Opponents of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris generally disdain them; they understand that neither Biden nor Harris are historic figures, indispensable to the movements they supposedly lead. In fact, there is a baseline understanding that the Democratic Party could easily switch Biden or Harris for a dozen others and that their preferred issue set would maintain apace.
The same is not true for Trump. The media and Democratic Party have determined that Trump is a singularly indispensable figure — a sort of bizarre cult leader, who has mesmerized millions into submission. They believe, in fact, that absent Trump, the Americans who vote for him would revert to becoming good little Democrats – reasonable people. That lie springs from a deeper lie: the lie that human beings are inherently good (by which they mean liberal) and that they only think differently if they are bamboozled by a strongman. Dispense with the strongman, and all will be well.
The problem here is larger than hatred for Trump. It is a perverse view that those who dissent from Democratic Party politics are themselves zombies in thrall to a madman, rather than fellow Americans who disagree on key issues for good reasons of their own.
And so the assassination attempts will likely continue. Trump has dodged a bullet once and avoided a shooting a second time. Americans ought never to be asked to experience a third attempt. If, God forbid, something does happen to Trump, the results for the country will be catastrophic.
Ben Shapiro’s new collection, “Facts and Furious: The Facts About America and Why They Make Leftists Furious,” is available now. Shapiro is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author. To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
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The article is correct that there will probably be more attempts on Pres. Trump’s life between now and the election and thereafter should he be elected. Those who want the downfall of the nation know that Trump can be a thorn in their side and could possibly undo some of the damage that has been done. If the American people would wake up and smell the odor of dead roses, just maybe, the decay of the country could be corrected. Since the country is split down the middle over right and wrong, the Adversary is winning as people continue to believe the lies and rhetoric and continue to vote in those who gladly following the ways of evil. This is the last time that the situation can be corrected and straightened out, otherwise all will be lost.
Why, WHY aren’t local police and the Secret Service setting up adequate secure lines around every venue President Trump visits??!! With all the violent rhetoric coming from the left and promulgated by the MSM, you’d think safer measures would be employed. Maybe Trump should hire some of his own security guards. I can’t imagine what his family are going through every time he steps out of the house.
If President Trump and J.D. Vance are elected in November, they will need heavy security 24/7 without question!!
Democrat congressmen and supporters must be held responsible for the incendiary language they use when referring to us “Deplorables”. This has to stop. The dems say so, too, and then they go right back to their nasty old habits. And, according to what I’m hearing, liberals are far more …liberal… with their hateful language.
Let’s start applying the LAW of: 18 U.S. Code § 879 – Threats against former Presidents and certain other persons – https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/879 – make taste their own poison!
And the left is still doing it. Some have amped up their disgusting rhetoric. These are the folks that would force their will on everyone in the name of “fairness”.
It will undoubtedly get worse before it gets better: “hopefully”.
I’m praying for Trump. If he wins he’ll have a 4 year fight against entrenched demagogues.
You are correct that killing him will be catastrophic……half the country will rise up and kick ass!…..They managed to steal one election and got the people to accept it….I don’t think that will be the case this time around…..the people are fed up!
I just want to announce to the severely undereducated out there that in case you haven’t noticed, the democrats have already taken the first major step in crushing democracy. The democrats do NOT have a presidential nominee they have a presidential appointee. 14 million votes handed to her, she did not earn a single one. That is what ending democracy looks like!
I’ll tell you what I think I think people at the highest levels of the Democratic Party are the ones responsible for the assassination attempts on Donald Trump there it’s been said