From our Leaders published in the Indian Newslink Digital Edition July 15, 2024
Venkat Raman
World leaders are perceived targets for terrorists who like instability and chaos and for people who differ from their ideologies or administration. There are then mentally unstable people who take a shot at a leader for no reason.
There were many attempts on American Presidents from the time. Some of them have been fatal: Abraham Lincoln (shot on April 14, 1865 and died the following day), James Garfield (shot on July 2, 1881, died on September 19, 1881), William McKinley (shot on September 6, 1901, died on September 14, 1901) and John F Kennedy (shot and died on November 22, 1963). President Ronald Regan was shot in Washington DC on March 30, 1981 but luckily escaped with minor injuries.
Attempt on Donald Trump
The attempt at the life of former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13 (July 14 NZT) has been unnerving. He was campaigning in Butler, about 50 km north of Pittsburgh when a gunshot, hit his right ear. He was immediately shielded by security personnel. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” he told his supporters with his fist thumping the air.
Later reports said that Mr Trump had not suffered major injuries besides a wound on his upper right ear. Police said that a male spectator at the rally was killed and two other men were critically wounded. The motivation for the attack is under investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect in what it called an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records and had made a $15 donation to a Democratic Political Action Committee at the age of 17.
The attempt on the life of the 78-year-old Former President who is running again for the White House in the November 2024 election has enraged Americans and leaders worldwide. The attack has further inflamed the US Presidential divide and has raised questions about the security lapses.
Leaders react
US President Joe Biden, who has had sharp exchanges with Mr Trump in recent months, said in Delaware, “There is no place in America for this kind of violence. Everybody must condemn it.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who has just wound up his first official trip to the US said that he was shocked by the incident.
“My thoughts are with the Former President, his family and the victims of this attack. No country should encounter such political violence,” he said in an X post.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was deeply concerned by the attack on “my friend, former President Donald Trump.”
“Strongly condemn the incident. Violence has no place in politics and democracies. Wish speedy recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased, those injured and the American people,” he said.
According to the New York Times, the explosion of political violence came at an especially volatile moment in American history and further inflamed an already stormy campaign for the White House.
Presidential Divide deepens
In an analysis, Peter Baker said that the assassination attempt seems more likely to tear America further apart than to bring it together.
“Within minutes of the shooting, the air was filled with anger, bitterness, suspicion and recrimination. Fingers were pointed, conspiracy theories advanced and a country already bristling with animosity fractured even more. The fact that the shooting in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night was two days before Republicans were set to gather in Milwaukee for their nominating convention invariably put the event in a partisan context. While Democrats bemoaned political violence, which they have long faulted Mr. Trump for encouraging, Republicans instantly blamed President Biden and his allies for the attack, which they argued stemmed from incendiary language labelling the former president a proto-fascist who would destroy democracy,” he said.
Rising violence
An Economist report said that political violence has been rising in America.
“In 2017, a left-wing fanatic shot a practice session of the Republican congressional baseball team, nearly killing Steve Scalise, the current majority leader. A crazed man invaded the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi, then the Democratic House speaker, in 2022, and repeatedly bashed her elderly husband on the head with a hammer. Supporters of Mr Trump were so incensed by his election loss to Mr Biden in 2020, that they attempted a violent sack of the Capitol on January 6th 2021. As shocking as the attempt on Mr Trump’s life is, it is sadly not surprising,” the publication said.
Attempts to eliminate leaders do not bode well for a democracy. Justly, the Americans are angry. But their anger should not tear their unity apart and polarise the already divided polity. Despite heavy security, a 20-year-old man managed to take a shot at Mr Trump in an open rally. This is an opportune time for voters in America to come together and ensure that the fast-approaching Presidential Election is free and fair.
Good politics means good, educated debates, where everyone agrees to differ – not gunshots and demeaning languages and gestures.
We are sure that America will come out of its current lowly politics.
After all, it is the second-largest democracy in the world.
