The assassination attempt on Donald Trump at Butler, Pennsylvania, has reinforced the reality of a Divided States of America. The United States of America is divided and polarised, both politically and ideologically. The division goes beyond the traditional Republican and Democrat, and has seeped into society, with both sides attracting some of the most toxic elements ever seen. Many of these differences have become apparent over the last few years, as obvious from movements like the radical left Antifa—a short form of anti-fascist, which is a misnomer because Antifa is violent, authoritarian and extremely “fascist” in nature—and the far-right white supremacists. But then every country, every society has its share of extreme loonies on both sides of the ideological divide. The problem starts when the mainstream—be they politicians or media or the like—normalises demonising their object of hatred. The “liberal” anger against Donald Trump is a case in point. Their dislike for Donald Trump dates back to the 2016 Presidential election.
Author and human rights activist Ayan Hirsi Ali describes it as the “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, first visible among left-leaning journalists. To them it was “sacrilege” that a businessman with an extra-colourful personal life, and best known for his television reality shows and garish choices in room décor, not only took on the ultimate Establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, but also became President of the mighty United States on the back of the slogan “drain the swamp”. The creatures of the so-called “swamp”, the whole ecosystem that is, have been trying to purge American politics of Donald Trump ever since. Trump too has been playing into their hands by his somewhat outrageous behaviour and even more scandalous comments. In terms of optics, his four years of Presidency were full of drama, although opinion is divided on his governance, which his supporters say was above average. But then the drama escalated to the point that he refused to accept the result of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to incumbent Joe Biden. The rest is history, including what the Democrats describe as “insurrection”, in which Trump’s supporters raided the Capitol Hill and took photographs sitting on the Speaker’s chair, among other things.
“Insurrection” or not, ever since it became clear that Trump was no pushover and had huge support among his party grassroots to run for Presidency once again, his opponents have been trying to deliver a knockout punch. Every possible subversion of the democratic process has been done, where even judges have abandoned all semblance of neutrality to throw Trump out of the ballot in certain states. It’s a different matter that more the attempts made to oust Trump, greater the rise in his popularity among Republican rank and file because of the perceived injustice. Meanwhile, the unhinged coverage of him from every mainstream platform is continuing, painting him as anti-democracy, equivalent to Hitler—in fact the devil incarnate. President Joe Biden, who asked Americans to “cool it down” post the assassination attempt on Trump, is himself guilty of insensitive and incendiary rhetoric against his rival. Just about a week ago, Biden had said, “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump… It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.” It appears that the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, took Biden’s words literally.
Aggravating Trump supporters’ anger is the coverage of the assassination attempt by mainstream American media, which is downplaying the incident. On the day of the shooting, one of the world’s leading newspapers took out a full page shadowy-photograph of Trump with the words “He failed the tests of leadership and betrayed America. Voters must reject him.” This led tech billionaire Elon Musk to furiously describe the newspaper as “callous and despicable human beings” without “a shred of empathy.” But then demonisation and empathy do not go hand in hand. When demonisation is normalised, it results in brainwashing, leading someone or the other to take matters in one’s own hands, the way shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks did. While Crooks decided to act, there are enough young anti-Trumpers on social media, who may not have acted, but are openly endorsing the assassination attempt by saying how they wished the shooter didn’t miss his mark. That is how polarised, brainwashed and warped the thinking process has become in the US. The “liberal” ecosystem, including American legacy media, must take responsibility for this state of affairs.
As for the impact of the assassination attempt on the US Presidential election, Trump is all set to be nominated as Presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention this week. He came out of the crisis a hero—fist-pumping the air, while uttering “fight, fight, fight”, even as blood flowed down his cheek. It made for an iconic photograph that will be there for ages. His popularity is skyrocketing. If the Democrats continue with Biden, who was already trailing behind Trump because of his own poor health, defeat is a certainty. If they replace Biden with someone younger and not cognitively impaired, there may be a contest, but even that’s no longer a certainty. If Trump wins in spite of all the deranged attacks on him, something which pushed him nearly to death’s door, for him it will be justice served.
