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Trump attack should bring sympathy, not pity for presidential win

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
15 Jul 2024 09:59

One author urges that voters must acknowledge that being shot does not elevate the victim or make them a moral leader.

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A woman rides a skateboard at a rally in support of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP)

Feeling sorry and sympathy for US presidential candidate Donald Trump for being shot is one thing, but allowing it to transform into pity and make him win the 2024 presidential elections is another, according to an opinion piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel for The Guardian.

Vanden Heuvel says that it is important to remember the dangers that public officials face in a culture as divisive and militarized as America's, asserting that it didn't take long for the incident to become campaign material amid 24/7 propaganda.

She cited Fox News for transforming Trump's response into making him a "hero" and a representation of the bravery and strength of the United States.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who was considering Trump's vice presidential candidacy, claimed that Biden's criticism of Trump was what sparked the shooting. Vance disregarded the fact that Trump, whose rhetoric has become increasingly inflammatory and violent over time, is the single most significant contributor to the coarsening of the political discourse.

"This country has too much gun violence – and too many guns," Vanden Heuvel says, noting that the majority of victims are usually not famous, and since elementary school students are now required to participate in active shooter drills, it is past due that the US takes the issue of reducing gun violence seriously.

The author continues to urge that voters must acknowledge that being shot does not elevate the victim or make them a moral leader. Like every candidate for president, Trump should be evaluated based on his actions, his morality, and his goals, and someone shooting at him does not exempt him from this responsibility, she maintains.

"No one should be fooled. Donald Trump deserves sympathy for the attack he experienced. That does not, however, make him an acceptable candidate for the presidency," she adds.

In another opinion piece by The Guardian, it calls for the absolute condemnation of political violence but states "America’s future must be set by voters, not the gun."

Due to a surge in gun purchases in recent years, it notes, a large number of Americans now possess firearms. As misinformation is widespread, the internet facilitates the organization of people with malicious intent.

The picture of a bloodied Trump, defiantly raising his fist in front of the flags and stripes, will undoubtedly strengthen the belief among his followers that he is a "martyr" who is being physically, legally, and politically persecuted for "trying to make America great again."

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Republicans' majority leader in the House, Steve Scalise, who was himself gravely injured in 2017 by an anti-Republican gunman with a violent and aggressive past, quickly accused Democrats of using "incendiary rhetoric" to ignite "ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America."

Biden strongly denounced political violence on Sunday and urged the country, which is still in shock at the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, to reject "extremism and fury."

In an Oval Office primetime speech, Biden urged Americans to work toward "national unity" and cautioned that the country's political discourse had grown "too heated" as emotions grew in the last months leading up to the November presidential election.

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence – for any violence. Ever. Period. No exception,” he said, adding, “We can’t allow this violence to be normalized."