Trump Assassination Attempt Poses New Test for U.S. Democracy
How would you assess the response of U.S. political leaders to the Butler, Pa. shooting?
President Biden’s initial response, calling the attack “sick” and speaking with his stricken adversary to express support, were encouraging, as were statements by other prominent Democrats including former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as more prominent Republicans such as former President George W. Bush and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The response of some on the right, finger-pointing and blaming Democrats for their heated rhetoric, is less productive. Possible vice presidential candidate JD Vance, for instance, asserted that Biden campaign “rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” seemingly a response to recent Biden comments that “It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
Political violence, however, has already been normalized in the United States. The reaction to this incident, for example, contrasts greatly with the reaction of many right-wing political figures to the terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, which included calls to assassinate a sitting vice president, after which perpetrators have been hailed as “political prisoners,” “martyrs,” “heroes,” and “warriors.” The assassination attempt against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in October 2022 was similarly met with conspiracy theories, featuring a dose of homophobic mockery. America urgently needs a bipartisan condemnation of rising political violence, from all actors and against all targets.
Can you compare U.S. environment with political violence seen in other democracies?
Allies and adversaries responded swiftly to the shooting with expressions of concern and will be closely watching the U.S. response in the days to come.
Allied countries, who have regarded the escalating division and political violence in the United States with horror, have reacted with sweeping condemnations of the continued dismantling of norms against political violence in democracies. Although several of them, including the United Kingdom and Japan, have already suffered high-profile assassinations in the past several years, the attempt on the former and possible future leader of the free world may offer permission for seditious elements in other countries to similarly make attempts on their political leaders.
Moreover, the assassination attempt struck just days after the Department of Justice announced it had disrupted a Russian effort to use generative AI to spread disinformation in the United States ahead of the election. Needless to say, this dark day in American history will provide even more ammunition to the Russian disinformation machinery, as well as adversaries in China and Iran, who would welcome the further erosion of American democracy and its influence in the world.
Jacob Ware is a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, focusing on domestic and international terrorism and counterterrorism. Together with CFR fellow Bruce Hoffman, he is the author of God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America. This article is published courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.
