It is a travesty of democracy in the US that a gunman changes the electoral, political discourse by a heinous attempt on the life of Donald Trump, former President and emerging candidate for the presidential race this November. The dastardly act could take place because of an egregious security lapse that will, in all probability, fuel long-standing fears that the electoral campaign could descend into political violence. World-wide condemnation followed the assassination attempt and US politicians cutting across ideological lines, including President Joe Biden, said violence has no place in politics in the US. Unfortunately, however, the US has an unenvious record of its Presidents and presidential candidates either falling to assassin’s bullets or surviving attempts on their lives. The four US Presidents who had been assassinated were Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901 and John F Kennedy in 1965. Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy was shot dead in 1968. There were eight other Presidents who also faced assassination attempts. The latest of them was George W Bush in 2005 who was preceded by Ronald Reagan in 1981.
However, the attack on Trump assumes far greater significance considering the climate of hatred, intolerance and violence that has been created by Trump’s own acts of omission and commission since he occupied the centre-stage of American politics. His incendiary speeches and a series of legal cases against him for his alleged moral turpitude have vertically split the US population. The vandalism and murderous assault on the Capitol Hill in 2021 by Trump supporters responding to his call to overturn the election mandate that went against him showed hatred and intolerance had struck deep roots in the US during his Presidency. Investigation into the motive of the twenty-yearold assailant, who was shot dead during the attack, is in progress. But, the small detail that has, so far, emerged that he was a Republican, who had also donated money for Trump’s electoral campaign, is disturbing to say the least. It adds a twist to the tale of the attempted murder. For, it seems to deflate the theory being spun by some Republican senators that the attack was Biden’s handiwork. Some such party members are even suggesting the Democrats are responsible for the assassination attempt since their rhetoric that Trump is a threat to democracy in the US has ‘misled’ the people.
For the past few years since his defeat, Trump has consistently shown he has a special knack of turning his legal troubles into political advantages. The more evidence has mounted against him, the more his popularity among his supporters has grown. He has changed the narrative into a witch hunt against him by President Biden without any facts to buttress his claim.
In other words, Trump has appeared to have developed an expertise in playing the victim and martyr’s card. Whatever the outcome of the investigation into the attempt on his life, his stocks in the November Presidential election are likely to rise further. Already, his televised debate with Biden in which the latter cut a sorry, literally shaky figure has already boosted his image. Even so, some surveys have indicated that Biden still had 50 per cent of the support of US voters against Trump’s 48 per cent.
According to political analysts, Trump’s assassination attempt raises his odds of winning back the White House and trades betting on his victory will increase this coming week. Before the shooting, markets had reacted to the prospect of a Trump presidency by pushing the US dollar higher and positioning for a steeper US Treasury yield curve. Those trades could strengthen in the coming weeks, market experts project. Republican President Ronald Reagan had gone up 22 points in the polls after his assassination attempt in 1981.
The presidential battle had been evenly poised, but the way things are moving Trump appears to be getting more traction than his rival. Biden too is trying to reposition himself to beat Trump in his own game. His words of condemnation of the assassination attempt are an indication. He said, among other things, the cowardly attack makes it all the more necessary for Americans to remain united. This is a veiled criticism of Trump’s divisive politics.
On the other side, this should also be a warning for both Trump and President Biden to take a re-look at the US Gun laws. And if critics who are claiming this was a stage managed show are to be believed then this chapter is certainly going to be picked up by those leaders from across the world who think of Trump in friendly terms.