Views /Opinion

Dark political day in America and its impact on 2024 election cycle

On Saturday, the United States marked a low point in its long history of political violence. Former President Donald Trump barely escaped death during a political rally in Pennsylvania as he was shot several times by a 20-year-old gunmen. 

The bullets tore through the 2024 presidential campaign cycle further damaging the already fragile social and political fabric of the country and its sense of security, and risking taking the country into an even darker direction. Violence has no place in a democracy and now more than ever, cooler and calmer heads need to prevail. The current responsibility of America’s political class now is to assert political calmness and be the voice of reason. 

Saturday’s events may not come as a surprise to many, including myself. The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans has only grown larger and more toxic. Extremely unbalanced people with guns have trenched themselves deeply in the venomous waters of the United States political dialogue and have decided to take matters into their own hands. The undercutting of free speech and political tolerance as well as rampant increase of social media disinformation and misinformation has been a familiar feature of American politics over the past decade.  

Furthermore, the assassination attempt comes in the wake of a deeply polarised, divided, and tribal nation with a political rhetoric that has only added fire to the flame for over a decade.

What took place over the weekend was not an isolated event in the country’s long experiment with democratic governance. Assassination attempts and plots against presidents, presidential candidates, and other political leaders have been far too common. US Congressman Steve Scalise and Congresswoman Gabby Giffords were wounded by gunfire in 2017 and 2011 respectively. In 2017, white supremacists in Charlottsville, Va rallied and clashed with others killing a female protestor. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was the target of a 2022 kidnapping plot. Former speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted by a man who broke into their home in 2022 with a hammer asking for Representative Nancy Pelosi. The insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, that killed at least seven people and the political tone that is coming out of US political media outlets as well as both presidential candidates in their rallies and debate, further flame the winds of divide inside the nation. 

It is difficult to predict the impact of Saturday’s events on the United States politically. There have been some bipartisan calls for national unity and calmness. President Joe Biden condemned the assassination attempt and spoke with the former president over the phone. Sadly, some have quickly used Saturday’s events to further the partisan trench-warfare that has characterised American politics recently. Some Republican politicians have placed the blame of the attack on Democrats who claim that the former president poses a threat to American democracy stating that the former president is a fascist authoritarian that must be stopped at all costs. 

Meanwhile, images of the former president bloodied while raising his fist will surely become a rallying point during the Republican National Convention currently taking place this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Saturday’s sordid events need to remind politicians on both sides that they have a greater responsibility to urge calm and stop the vitriol. Public statements must be worded carefully and the United State, collectively, needs to steady its chaotic public discourse.  Republicans need to avoid the temptation to use the event as a rallying cry and Democrats need to stop labelling the president as a fascist dictator, which will be welcoming. The clear message that needs to develop from this sad episode is that violence is unacceptable, and that a divided country which chooses physical force to settle its issues will undeniably be a weaker one.