Threatening overtones
Politics is as much a game of destiny, as it is of skills including oration, pragmatism, liaison-making etc. Destiny, it has to be said, was with Republican leader Donald Trump when he dodged to escape a bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which passed touching his right ear. Soon after destiny was done with its task, Trump played his own part by immediately rising back and yelling “Fight, Fight, Fight”—defying the human shield created by Secret Service agents on the platform. Many political analysts have already dubbed the incident as a defining moment in this year’s presidential race. Knowing the vitality of the moment, Trump himself glorified it by saying: “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo (that of Trump rising with a wounded ear) they’ve ever seen”, adding that “I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
Undeniably, the incident has boosted the political prospects of the already dominant-looking Republicans vis-à-vis Democrats. Trump has successfully projected himself as a leader who was unfazed by a narrow escape from a potentially lethal bullet. It may be recalled that during the last Presidential Election campaign itself, the old age and feebleness of Joe Biden had turned into an impactful electoral issue. Four years down the line, Biden, by stumbling on the stairs and making oratory blunders in his speeches, has strengthened the argument put forth by the Republicans. Trump, merely three years younger to him, has created an optics of being physically and mentally fit to lead the country through the coming years. The assassination attempt has just coloured up the formal nomination of Trump and his vice-presidential pick, Ohio Senator JD Vance, at Milwaukee. At the same time, the Democrats led by Joe Biden have been pushed against the wall to play defensive politics, at least for the moment. The political wind has apparently turned in the favour of the Republicans. However, the dynamic nature of politics in the US and the mercurial mood of the electorates are good enough reasons to believe that nothing can be presumed in advance. After Ronald Regan was shot in 1981, the public sympathy he received had mostly faded in a brief period of time. Indeed, Trump is a different persona altogether, but Democrats are very much in the race yet.
While the electoral overtones of the assassination attempt have gained the centrestage, the indication of a broader political rot cannot be ignored. US politics has a long history of violence. While one would expect the situation to evolve over time, over the past decade, the polarization has only gone on to touch its extreme—with Republicans and Democrats blaming each other for the rot. Though Trump is positioned to play the victim card presently, his support—and even direction—towards fostering an ambience of political violence has been more than evident. The January 6 Capitol Hill violence represented only the tip of the iceberg. There have been countless incidents with a sense of violence being palpable. Now that the violence was directed against Trump himself, Republican leaders have collectively put the blame on Democrats’ (including Biden’s) statements terming Trump as an “existential threat to democracy” for facilitating violence against Trump. Certain Republicans have gone on to the extent of citing “orders from Biden” for the attack. This has put Democrats—who are busy condemning the act of violence—to avoid the most effective ground on which Trump can be targeted; that of endangering democracy.
Meanwhile, among Republicans, Trump’s defiant call of “Fight, Fight, Fight” is resonating deeply, meaning that the already violent political faction may now not sigh away from wreaking havoc in a tightly contested presidential race. It is time for caution and restraint, but the same are not guaranteed yet!
