The attempted assassination of Trump is not nearly as surprising as it should be
By: Jonathan Turley (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by Jonathan Turley, opinion contributor - 07/13/24 9:53 PM ET
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 13
The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump left a nation stunned. But the most shocking aspect was that it was not nearly as surprising as it should have been. For months, politicians, the press and pundits have escalated reckless rhetoric in this campaign on both sides. That includes claims that Trump was set to kill democracy, unleash "death squads" and make homosexuals and reporters "disappear."
President Biden has stoked this rage rhetoric. In 2022, Biden held his controversial speech before Independence Hall where he denounced Trump supporters as enemies of the people. Biden recently referenced the speech and has embraced the claims that this could be our last democratic election.
I discuss this rage rhetoric in my new book, "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage." We are living through an age of rage. It is not our first, but it may be the most dangerous such period in our history.
Some of us have been objecting for years that this rage rhetoric is a dangerous political pitch for the nation. While most people reject the hyperbolic claims, others take it as true. They believe that homosexuals are going to be "disappeared" as claimed on ABC's "The View" or that the Trump "death squads" are now green lighted by a conservative Supreme Court, as claimed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
Rage is addictive and contagious. It is also liberating. It allows people a sense of license to take actions that would ordinarily be viewed as repulsive.
As soon as Trump was elected, unhinged rage became the norm as with Kathy Griffin featuring herself holding the bloody severed head of Trump.
Just recently, another celebrity, actress Lea DeLaria, begged Biden to "blow [Trump] up" after the recent presidential immunity decision. DeLaria explained that "this is a **** war. This is a war now, and we are fighting for our **** country. And these a**holes are going to take it away. They're going to take it away."
For months, people have heard politicians and press call Trump "Hitler" and the GOP a Nazi movement. Some compared stopping Trump to stopping Hitler in 1933. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) declared Trump "is not only unfit, he is destructive to our democracy and he has to be eliminated." He later apologized.
Others say that Trump "will destroy the world" unless he is stopped.
I do not believe that the politicians or pundits engaging in what my book calls "rage rhetoric" want actual violence. But they have knowingly created conditions for extremist views and, yes, extremist actions.
The media has been quick to denounce reckless rhetoric from the right while largely ignoring the same language on the left. That included threats against conservative Supreme Court justices before the assassination plot against Brett Kavanaugh.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) went to the steps of the Supreme Court and called out Kavanaugh by name: "I want to tell you, (Justice Neil) Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Again, I do not believe that Schumer wanted Nicholas Roske to go to the home of Justice Kavanaugh to kill him. However, these politicians also know that some citizens will hear this rhetoric as a justification for violent conduct.
Thus, when the president is claiming that the election may end democracy in the nation, it can be heard as much as a license as a warning, particularly when he adds "we're done talking about the debate, it's time to put Trump in a bullseye."
We still do not know about the shooter in this assassination attempt. However, we know all too well how unhinged people can find justification in the incendiary rhetoric of our politics. This moment did not occur in a vacuum; it occurred in a time when our leaders long abandoned reason for rage.
We have come full circle to where we began as a Republic. In the 1800 election, Federalists and Jeffersonians engaged in similar rage rhetoric.
Federalists told citizens that, if Jefferson were elected, "Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes."
Jeffersonians warned that, if Adams were reelected, "chains, dungeons, transportation, and perhaps the gibbet" awaited citizens and they "would instantaneously be put to death."
Both sides stoked the anger and fears of the public, and violence was seen across the nation.
In our current age of rage, politicians have sought to use the same anger and fear to rally support at any cost.
This is the cost.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of "The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage" (Simon & Schuster, June 18, 2024).
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Pretty good piece by Turley.
Spot on.
If Biden actually said or wrote this and it was made public, IMO he issued an invitation for someone to give it a try:
I found this:
I fully expect the Biden Team to be working all night on ways to spin the President's own words.
Should be a real hoot to see what they can manage to come up with, and how many people they'll be able to fool.
The shooter name is Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Another three name dillweeds
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With remarks like these, Joe Biden has disqualified himself from office.
Joe Biden has disqualified himself from office.
Ridiculous. And you claim to not support Trump. Bull-shit.
Sorry, you can call Biden what he is and still not support Trump.
Not everyone falls in the Establishment party wheelhouse.
Until 2020 I was anti both sides. Congrats Democrats/leftists you convinced me to go with the lesser of two evils from now on. You just bitch about which side I think is the lesser evil.
Unreal. Do you expect anyone here to believe that there was ever an impartial bone in your body? Puh-leeze.
I am consistently amazed when your comments regularly claim to know what other people think. Amazing!
Thousands of posts here beg to differ.
Some are merely incapable of grasping that rather simple concept. Ask them to give reasons to vote for Biden and all you'll hear is Trump.
Being different means you support Trump somehow or other. And that makes you a threat.
It appears unfathomable to some that anyone could ever support someone they hold so much hate for.
This is the real problem dealing with some folk.
Facts don't matter, only bashing and hating Trump does.
Of course, most (thankfully) know that criticism of one is NEVER an endorsement of another.
No matter how many times that inanity is repeated.
Amazing isn't it? The 21st century and a presidential candidate just survived an attempted assassination, yet....
Evening...If something happens to Trump before Nov what happens?
Who takes over from him? Does the party elect a new candidate or is someone in "reserve"..
Obviously is something happens to a President you have the Vice president take over if I am correct?
The party would select someone during the conference
Yep
Depends on party rules, not sure but I'm sure the national GOP would get together with the reps of the statesgop parties and hammer out someone to run. This is before the national convention, and before a running mate is named, if after the convention , the party does the same but with the named running mates name in contention.
Thanks for that..never really thought about it when someone is in opposition to a sitting President and something happens to them..
Not even sure what happens here..we do have a deputy opposition leader so I guess they would take over..
These Eldred democrats tried to get him assassinated. they voted to take secret service protection away from him.
Rep. Bennie Thompson Rep. Troy A. Carter Sr. Rep. Barbara Lee Rep. Frederica Wilson Rep. Yvette D. Clarke Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman Rep. Jasmine Crockett Rep. Joyce Beatty Rep. Steve Cohen
,
As Secret Service agents hoisted Trump up and form a tight circle around him, he shouts, “Wait, wait, wait”. Streaks of blood can be seen on his face and right ear. He throws up a fist, Fight! Fight, Fight”, a huge American flag in the background. The crowd is chanting “USA, USA, USA”.
A campaign director can’t get better footage than that. We will see that juxtaposed with Biden being led back to the group of NATO leaders.
Luckiest candidate ever.
Okay closeted Trumpster.
Stop with the personal shit, JR.
No, I remain anti-Trump, but that doesn’t prevent me from seeing the obvious, the way it does you.
Dont make me laugh.
It should make you cry.
I dont make you do anything, take some personal responsibility.