A dark day of violence in America

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On Saturday, America marked another low point in the nation’s long history of political violence. Minutes into his rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump was shot at, multiple times, in an apparent attempt on his life. The former US president escaped narrowly. He was visibly bloodied and shaken, yet seen defiantly pumping his fists as he was escorted from his podium. One spectator is confirmed dead, others are critically wounded, while the suspected assassin was shot and killed by the Secret Service.

The event risks taking a country, that in recent years has grown more bitter, polarised, and prone to violence, in an even darker direction. The responsibility of America’s political class to reassert the importance of political calm has never been more important.

Violence has no place in democracy. The undermining of free speech and political tolerance, and the rampant rise of social media disinformation, has been a feature of American politics over the past decade. The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans has only grown wider and more toxic. This has come alongside a greater willingness to use physical force. Sporadic eruptions of violence over the past four years include the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

But, sadly, Saturday’s events are not an anomaly in the country’s long experiment with democratic governance. Assassination attempts or plots against presidents, presidential candidates, and other political leaders have been all too common.

How democracies respond to moments like this are the real test of their mettle. The fear is that Saturday’s events will only dial up the bitter rhetoric between politicians further. Some Republicans, including JD Vance, the Ohio senator — a contender to be Trump’s running mate — were quick to attribute blame for the incident on Joe Biden’s campaign. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that . . . Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” he claimed on X.

Trump has himself resorted to inflammatory language in his speeches, including during the 2024 election campaign. He was alleged to have incited the Capitol riot, after denying the November 2020 election result. His attempted assassination now risks riling his most ardent supporters. It could deepen divisions or, even worse, be used as justification for more violence. That must be avoided.

In the past, assassinations or attempted assassinations have provided a wake-up call for the American political system, allowing voices of reason to reassert themselves. That is needed today more than ever. Politicians on all sides have a great responsibility to urge calm and stop the vitriol. Any public statements must be worded carefully. Republicans need to speak up, and avoid the temptation to use the event as a rallying cry. The ex-president was heard chanting “fight” as he was ushered to safety. The initial moderate tone struck by him in posts to his Truth Social platform is, however, welcome.

The clear message that needs to emerge from this sorry episode is that violence is unacceptable, and that a divided country that resorts to physical force to resolve its issues is undoubtedly a weaker one.

If America can steady its chaotic public discourse, it must then reflect on how it has got here. It is shocking that close to 60 per cent of American adults in a recent survey agreed that elections would not solve the country’s most fundamental political and social problems. Saturday’s sordid events are yet another reminder that there is a wider rot in America that needs fixing, and that democracy should never be taken for granted.