The first questions, of course, concern the incident itself: the perpetrator, the motivation and the method. Not to mention: how could such a thing have happened?
It is hard to believe for anyone who has attended a Trump event and seen the firewall of security that separates the man from the rest of the population. The agents charged with protecting Donald Trump, whether they are members of the Secret Service or not, are being questioned for a breach of the fundamental principles of their job.
Letting a former and possibly future president fall into the crosshairs of a sniper puts him in the line of fire and will be held accountable for actions that resulted in a death, even if it was not the primary target.
The day after the shooting, an eyewitness told the media that he was surprised it had not happened sooner. He is not alone in a country where political violence persists.
Time will tell if and how anything changes.
In a statement, President Biden referred to “Donald,” calling the attack “sick” and saying there was “no place for this kind of violence in America.” Democrats have pulled anti-Trump campaign ads for now.
That benevolence was at odds with a message posted on “X” by Republican House Rep. Mike Collins shortly after the assassination attempt. He wrote that the president had “sent the orders” for the shooting, referring to a statement in which Biden said: “We’re done with the (televised) debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”
The MP’s message was later deleted. An acknowledgement that he had gone too far, as with the rhetoric of violence in general? Perhaps it was a single message from a single politician, withdrawn.
The United States is certainly a country that needs a complete overhaul of its policies, marked as they are by division and malice.
Could an assassination attempt change the situation?
In the aftermath of the Pennsylvania incident, Trump’s opponents recalled how he once joked about brutally assaulting the husband of former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Likewise, his downplaying of a kidnapping plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has not been forgotten.
No one is suggesting that anything justifies an assassination attempt, but it is clear that Donald Trump has played his part in changing the rules of engagement and recklessly stoking hostility in American politics.
A new beginning is needed. The shocking events of last Saturday offer all members of the American political establishment an opportunity to assess the value of change as we approach a real election campaign.
The American political landscape needs to be reimagined – that much is evident in the images emerging from Butler, Pennsylvania.
