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After segregationist George Wallace’s 1972 presidential campaign was cut down by Arthur Bremer’s four bullets, our own Shirley Chisholm, who was running the first presidential campaign by a woman, visited her rival at his bedside.
“What are your people going to say?” she recalled him asking her as Blacks in her community “crucified” her (her word). “I said, ‘I know what they’re going to say. But I wouldn’t want what happened to you to happen to anyone.’ He cried and cried and cried.”
It was a moving moment in itself, and more so in the context of American history, whose occasional redemptions sometimes counterpoint the hate. It also helped seal Wallace’s move away from segregation. (In his last run for office in 1982, he won 90 percent of the Black vote.)
Any kind of encounter like that between our current presidential contenders–even if, fortunately, Trump is not in a hospital bed–seems beyond reach. The campaigns, content with the obligatory statements punched out by third-rung speech-writers, are busy figuring out how to leverage the moment to maximum advantage.
It’s been fascinating–frightening, really–to see how quickly the response to Saturday’s Trump assassination attempt followed familiar scripts that turn anything and everything, whether it’s a verbal miscue by Biden or a gun-terrorism act against Trump, into just another occasion for bellicose marketing. Any measured response, any thought to carving out a moment’s political cool-down that the incident might call for and that this country ought to crave, any glance toward the kind of historical gesture Chisholm understood, is foreign to our scorched-earth elections.
Anything can and will be used to vilify and deify. Medieval pilgrims traded gold for relics such as the alleged thumb of John the Baptist or vials of the alleged blood of Christ from his crucifixion. This will be the first presidential race in history when blood will feature front and center in the Trump campaign’s most iconic image, the candidate bloodied but fist-pumping as an Iwo Jima-flag-like clutch of brawn props him up. Trump is the flag. Trump is America. Welcome to assassination merch.
I am writing this less than 24 hours after the shooting in Butler, Pa. Trump had the good sense to say that “nothing is known at this time about the shooter,” as so much will be known soon. But the two sides have already staked their ground as if they knew as much about this as we do about Hinkley or Moore or Bremer or Sirhan or Oswald or Zangara or Schrank or… (So many names.)
J.D. Vance figured he’d use the occasion to make a final pitch for the vice presidency, using fascist rhetoric to blame Biden for the shooting and cleverly accusing Biden of using fascist rhetoric to disarm Vance’s own. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican who was himself wounded in an act of gun terrorism, piled on, as did of course Marjorie Taylor Greene and her amen corner on Fox and the rest of the reactionary newspeak.
Not that Democrats would have done anything different had, say, Biden or Obama been shot. They’re going one better, bristling with conspiracies that would give Don DeLillo a run for his Libra. How could the shooter have made it to that roof in broad daylight, how could no snipers have picked out his AR-15, wasn’t the Secret Service warned of the intrusion, and so on, the absurd implication being that the whole thing was staged.
What if Trump maybe had not moved just so, like when Charles de Gaulle avoided an assassin’s bullet in one of the more than two dozen attempts on his life, just enough to avoid the lethal blow? What if the shooter had not “shot like a pig” (as de Gaulle put it about some of his own would-be assassins)? Would that have been staged, too? Is the rally victim killed by a bullet part of the staging?
Let’s not go down that route, especially since it’s superfluous anyway. The shooting doesn’t have to have been staged for the staging of the response to the shooting to have been so flawlessly, so theatrically brilliant. Ever the showman, Trump had the presence of mind to milk its every scarlet drop, giving Doug Mills of The New York Times his almost guaranteed shot at a Pulitzer with that Joe Rosenthal-like photo. Reichstag fires don’t come around like this every day. Trump seized his.
Let’s also not shortchange the cooler statements from both sides, from Melania Trump to Mitch McConnell to Biden to Gabby Giffords–yet another public victim of gun terrorism–and many others. But you know well that those aren’t the voices that the propagandists, the vocal vigilantes, the campaign mercenaries and their media accomplices are running with. Our politics’ temperature is not set by C-Span.
On the eve of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee–where, as a meaningless coincidence soon to be sanctified by the conventioneers and Trump himself, Teddy Roosevelt brushed off the bullet in his chest and kept talking outside the Gilpatrick Hotel, not far from the house of Bremer, Wallace’s would-be assassin–the shooting, the imagery and the merchandise it enables are diamond currency in electoral math, now verging on 350 or thereabout for Trump. He can landslide his way to what he’ll call a mandate, his autocracy hallowed in his own blood while Biden continues his hobble of self-destruction.
Coincidentally this weekend I was reading about that relatively new “sport” called “Power Slap,” where competitors stand face to face and slap the hell out of each other until only one of them is left standing. It emerged out of the gladiatorial gutter of the Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship, an extremely popular and profitable cash cow in a country where armchair sadism for millions substitutes for seeking the more meaningful in life.
“Power Slap” is not a sport. There’s no skill involved, no athleticism, no thought, certainly no intelligence, no strategy, just brute, beastly force delighting crowds that love violence for its own sake. It pretty much sums up the state of American politics and elections these days. We have a few more slaps ahead in the presidential contest, though the outcome is foretold. The contenders are not suffering the worst blows as much as our democracy. But these t-shirts and pins will be priceless.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
BillC says
Here comes the blame game. The shooter was a registered Republican.
Jake from state farm says
I believe the author of this article who is clearly not a Repub, recommended others to register as Repubs to counter some shenanigans being done by some local right extremists. So that makes your assumption that is registered party affiliation had anything to do with it just as much his donation to a Dem PAC does.
Jason says
There is quite literally an article on this very “news” site that instructs people how to switch their party affiliation to Republican just to vote in the coming primary….
Crystal Lang says
Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe this 20 year old changed his affiliation from Dem to Rep so people think that someone from his party tried to kill him!!!!! NOT!!!!!!
Jim says
I hate that Donald Trump was shot. I hate that a bystander died at the scene. I hate that a 20-year old kid decided killing a presidential candidate was a good idea and died for that action.
That said, just a much, I hate that immediately after the shooting, many “Republicans” came out and accused Biden of being responsible for it. How despicable have our politicians become that there is absolutely no effort to bring the country together and recognize that we all need to live together and get along (at least a little) to make this country work.
I do not like Donald Trump. I think he is anti-democratic and only out for himself. He’s proven this many times. Loyalty is a one-way street for him. Forty of forty-four cabinet and other high level officials in his first administration have come out against him for a second term. In normal times, this would be unheard of and Trump would fade into the woodwork. But for reasons I just do not understand, his followers remain loyal no matter what laws he breaks, what moral and ethical norms he tramples, no matter how terribly he treats people and, maybe most importantly, how clearly he has shown he has no regard for freedom as we’ve come to know it the past 250 years.
It’s terrible that this event occurred but if you think for one minute that Donald Trump has not brought us to this level of hate, distrust and “me first” mentality, you just have not been paying attention.
I’ll take a Joe Biden who may be slipping to a Donald Trump who has shown there is no bottom to the sewage pit in which he dwells.
Jason says
Was it Trump or Ms Waters that told people on national television to harass Trump cabinet members in public and makes their lives hell?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/politics/maxine-waters-trump-officials/index.html
Accuse the other of that you are guilty.” — Joseph Goebbels
BillC says
“I am your retribution. ” Donald Trump told supporters at a rally to “knock the crap out of” hecklers. Trump said he would even pay for any legal fees that supporters incurred. Now Trump is on the road to Damascus? Hope so. The point is the shooter wasn’t from the “radical left”, just a deranged lone wolf with access to an AK47 style weapon.
Jim says
And you think one equates with the other? Really? I’m not defending Waters but don’t gaslight me with this kind of BS.
Trump is a one-of-a-kind politician who will do anything to help himself and those of you who think he’s going to “Make America Great Again…Again” are as delusional as he is.
KES says
Wow! No hate here.
Jim says
You one of those “love everybody” Republicans that are as easy to find as the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny or Santa Claus??
FlaPharmTech says
Jim, thank you for putting into words the most reasonable, cogent observation of our current political mess.
Wallingford says
While I hate to see anyone get shot, maybe this will incentivize the Republicans to finally put through some meaningful legislation regarding gun control.
PC Dave says
I gotta disagree with your comment that Trump brought this on. As Jason said, Ms Waters was publicly calling for people to harass Trump’s cabinet members. Some celebrities get shamed and ostracized for supporting Trump on social media. And let’s not forget Biden’s “Speech at the gates of hell” when he said Trump and the MAGA republicans are a threat to the country. Sorry, but the Democrats have done much more to whip up hate and vitriol against Trump than anybody else.
That being said, I’m not gonna point the finger at Biden for 1 unhinged person who did a horrible thing to 4 people and paid the ultimate price.
Shark says
You call it hate and vitriol, Most sane people call it the truth !!!
Hate speech says
Are you kidding? For years the democratic party has done everything to President Trump they could to create hatred and its led to this. Why don’t the democrats and some republicans realize that hate speech hurts America.
Bobby says
Wonder if Trump now will stop promoting violence?
Sherry says
@ Jim. . . astoundingly excellent comment! Thank You!. . . and Ditto! Do you mind if I quote you?
Jim says
Sure, but as you can see from the comments above, unless you’re talking to someone who shares your viewpoint, those on the other side are just not listening!
Sherry says
Hi Jim,
As a member of Fine Arts America, I started an art contest called “Get Political Today”. . . on that contest there is a discussion that began a few days ago and today includes the assassination attempt. I posted your comment there. Here is a link, but I’m not sure FL will post it, for security sake. In any case, you may be interested to hear what artists are saying and of course check out the amazing political art images.
https://fineartamerica.com/contests/get-political-today.html?tab=discussions
NJ says
The Editor’s Article just PROVED that he knows NOTHING about being a Real American but He is from a Middle Eastern Nation that has it’s own history of values that are Very Different than America’s Values! Look at the Giant Mistake Bush made with Invasion of Iraq to “teach them” American Values! American History 101—Read & Study it, then STOP your “BULLSHIT ANTI-AMERICAN” articles from your “experts” in foreign nations!
Sherry says
This from Rachel Kleinfield an “Expert” on Political Violence and a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace during an interview today on Politico Magazine:
When responding to political violence are certain voices more effective than others? You wrote in your 2022 piece that Trump has helped super-charge the current atmosphere. Would a statement from him on political violence reach his followers more deeply?
People listen to their leaders, and so whoever has a following has a real responsibility to speak to that following. Absolutely, Trump should be speaking to his followers as Biden and Obama and Clinton have spoken to theirs.
Are you hopeful that this could be a turning point for the nation?
I hope that Americans will look in the mirror and not like what they see and start to change.
Watcher says
This sums it up:
Judy B says
Didn’t Biden say in a speech on Monday “so we are done talking debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye”! I think it’s time for both sides to bring it down a notch or two! Mr. Pierre Tristam, you should be ashamed of posting this article less than 24 hours after an attempt on a past (and possibly our future) president’s life!!!! Also have some sympathy for the family who lost their husband/son/father and the two who are recovering from their wounds! We should all wait until the FBI does a thorough investigation before we all start a “blame game”!
starryid says
This article proves once again that Mr. Pierre Tristam has no shame!
Pogo says
@From the horse’s ass to God’s ear
Marlee says
Is anyone here going to make a comment about guns?
Why isn’t anyone (other than Parkland students) talking about gun control?
I have NOT heard anything…have you?
Bobby says
Wonder if the Cult GOP party will now ban AR15’s I kind of doubt it.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Hahaha oh boy, looks like America is gonna turn to full blown fascism in the fall. Great job Dems, you have a literal Weekend at Bernie’s candidate and decades of learned powerlessness. Good job. Can’t wait to see the platitudes in the fall.
dave says
So much hate on both sides. Violence abounds throughout this country each and every day, with no end in sight. What a freaking mess this country is in.
Mod says
Law of attraction
You get what you focus on
Trump is all about hate and violence
No surprise it caught up with him
We can only hope that this will humble him a bit
And now know what everyone else in his hateful path has had to deal with,
Karma’s a bitch but very real
The ear is significant ….maybe he will hear what he says going forward and think twice
Samuel says
Nothing can humble him, he will never change. And something keeps telling me it was all staged even at the expense of others losing their lives. He has promoted hate and violence for years. You get what you sow.