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It seems that for the second time in recent months, a gunman has tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Every American should be shocked and appalled. We cannot allow the repetition of these heinous events to numb us to just how evil they are.
Political violence is never acceptable. Americans cannot let deep divisions convince them otherwise. And we cannot let these repeated, horrific attempts on Donald Trump’s life lull us into thinking that this is somehow the norm. We must reject political violence at every turn, including and especially in its worst moments like this. As Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana emphasized Sunday evening, we cannot allow this to become our “new normal.”
“We should all be concerned about the second assassination attempt on President Trump,” Cassidy said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This can’t be the new normal.”
Thankfully Trump was unharmed when Secret Service agents reportedly recognized the threat of a gunman in the bushes at his Florida golf course, and shot at the would-be assassin. The alleged gunman fled and was detained later by authorities. He has since been named as Ryan Wesley Routh, whose social media presence reportedly indicated support for Trump in 2016 that changed to disappointment and opposition in recent years.
There is much still unknown about the alleged would-be assassin and the situation in general, raising continued questions about Secret Service protocols and capabilities. As ever, people should be careful not to jump to conclusions before more information and answers are available, but some things are already clear.
First, it is clear that the Secret Service must increase its protective capacity as it relates to former President Trump, beyond what has already been increased in the wake of the July assassination attempt. President Joe Biden has said that the Secret Service “needs more help” after this second attempt. Congress and the executive branch need to provide whatever resources needed to ensure that former President Trump is afforded the same level of protection that a sitting president would receive. These two assassination attempts have proven that necessary, and immediately so.
Second, the Secret Service and all other agencies involved need to promptly and fully cooperate with requests for information from the bipartisan panel of U.S. House lawmakers already investigating the first attempt on Trump’s life. Speedy, detailed transparency is critical for maintaining trust among a fearful and divided public. If authorities want to quell the spread of false information and speculation, they must provide clear and timely answers.
And third, all political leaders need to be especially careful about their rhetoric, with an emphasis on turning the temperature down and avoiding any escalation in violence aimed at politicians or their supporters. We solve political disputes in this country by voting, not with violence. Disagreement is certain in a democracy, but how we disagree matters. We don’t think Trump should be president again, but that is for voters to decide.
Trump and his supporters are right to be angry after another attempt on his life, but taking that anger and turning it into more aggressive and targeting rhetoric doesn’t help the situation.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News about the alleged gunman in the second assassination attempt. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
Yes, Democrats (and everyone across the country, frankly) need to rethink their rhetoric and how it could play out in an already volatile election season. But if Trump believes that their words have the power to unleash violence against him, then he also needs to realize that his words could have the same power. Even after the horrific and unnerving second attempt to assassinate him, Trump too must consider the weight of his words and choose reconciliation over escalation.
We continue to believe that Americans and the politicians hoping to win American votes can highlight differences, even stark differences of national significance, without casting each other as enemies. To borrow from Senator Cassidy again, this can’t be the new normal.
