July 15, 2024
On the failed assassination attempt of former President Trump...
There are about a thousand different places to begin today’s post, each of them appropriate and inadequate at the same time. There are also about a thousand things to say in a post like this, each of them simultaneously true and cliché. Maybe the most appropriate, inadequate, true, and cliché thing to say is thank goodness Donald Trump is okay and yet, thank goodness he’s okay. With one person dead and three others including the former president injured, what happened is unforgivable. What could have happened is unthinkable.
There have been a number of strong columns in the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt, a couple of them linked below. Rather than follow their format of counsel for a way forward, I thought I would lay out a few of the steps I intend to take in the coming days and beyond. I hope they’re useful. I hope they speak to you. If they don’t, that’s okay, too.
I’ll do the best I can to separate speculation from fact. I don’t know the shooter’s motivation. I can assume it, but then I thought I could assume the motivation of Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords’ shooter and I was wrong. Same goes for the security around the rally on Saturday. Some have intimated the security failure was intentional. It was certainly glaring but, until more information comes out, speculation like that serves no purpose other than to inflame. I’d rather have an informed opinion later than an uninformed one now.
If the shooter’s motivation turns out to be political, I won’t cast blanket responsibility on the left, the same way I didn’t cast blanket responsibility on the right for January 6. (I understand some would disagree with this comparison and I understand why. With respect, I believe it’s apt and am happy to discuss it in the comments.) There are specific people responsible for our heightened rhetoric who should be sanctioned, but voters in each party can’t be held accountable for their party’s worst actors. That inclination has played no small part in bringing us to this point of escalation and dehumanization.
Regardless of the shooter’s motives, this is still a time to reconsider our political rhetoric. I will be looking for reflection from those who make a living inflaming their viewers, listeners, readers, and constituents. Some — David Frum of The Atlantic, Jesse Watters of Fox News — made fast work proving themselves incapable of this, and so I would encourage those here who follow them to quietly abandon them. Don’t get angry. Just walk away and find someone better. I promise you they’re out there.
Along those same lines, I will stop reading/watching/listening to anything as soon as it veers into ad hominem attacks, speculation, or victim-shaming. I already try to do this, but it’s worth doubling down. Political vitriol serves no purpose except to whet one’s appetite for more. After Saturday’s events, hopefully we’ve had our fill. Those who haven’t can feast alone.
It’s important to hold accountable those who created our frayed discourse (I do this by not reading, watching, listening to, or voting for them). It will be equally important to hold accountable those who try to revive escalatory rhetoric in the future. According to ABC News, Donald Trump directed those speaking at the Republican National Convention to tone down their speeches. Joe Biden pulled his campaign ads for a time. These are good starts. I hope the political class continues to build from them. I don’t know that they will, but even if they don’t, we don’t have to follow their lead. For example, when I hear someone tearing down the other side, I know too many thoughtful, funny, smart, informed, wonderful, caring individuals on that other side not to interject. My guess is you do, too. Defending them is a civility we’re all capable of.
To close, I’ll just say this. The people I know rather than the ones I don’t have become the faces of the political parties for me. When I think of Republicans, I think of my mom and lifelong best friends from childhood who are all, to a person, phenomenal parents and leaders and examples. When I think of Democrats, I think of my aunt and cousin and lifelong best friends from college who are also, to a person, phenomenal parents and leaders and examples. I mentioned earlier I was just going to tell you what I intended to do in the wake of the horror of Saturday. With all humility, though, I would encourage you at this inflection point to recast your view of the other side with the faces of those you know and love and admire. You won’t regret it.