“The latest attempt on Donald Trump’s life incites a sequence of outrageous queries. What is the expected count of subsequent attempts on Trump’s life before the elections on the 5th of November? Could a potential attempt prove successful eventually? To what extent will such attempts influence the final results of the looming election? Are assassination attempts now a permanent part of US politics, on par with post-convention polling surges and television debates?
To say that this fresh bid on a former US president’s life is nothing extraordinary would be a blunder; quite the contrary. Personally, I am set to delve into the matter more substantially in a prestigious paper. However, this incident has struggled to garner equal gravity following the shocking attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, which happened a mere two months ago.
One could say, it was more of an endeavour to attempt an assassination, owing to the simple fact that the alleged perpetrator didn’t manage to fire any rounds. Furthermore, the scenario of the incident leaves much to desire; the accused was hidden, clutching a rifle in the shrubbery off the fifth hole fairway of Trump International Golf Course at West Palm Beach, while Trump was enjoying a golf session. It missed out on the dramatic political tension of the assassination bid at the Pennsylvania rally, forever remembered through its imagery of bloodshed and resistance.
As I pen down this account, a heated debate is ongoing among the editorial team of the Wikipedia page dedicated to the incident, titled “Trump International Golf Club Shooting”. The clash revolves around whether the incident warrants its own separate page, or should be included as a subsection under “Security Incidents Involving Donald Trump”, or be engulfed under the golf course’s entry.”
In a recent address, Joe Biden articulated a message of concern in response to the latest assassination attempt, echoing the sentiments he has previously expressed. Maintaining his stance, he underlined that there is no room for political violence in the United States. He stressed the importance of peaceful resolution of conflicts through democratic processes rather than force. His words painted a portrait of a desire – an envisaged America where democracy thrives without turbulence – rather than the actual state of affairs in the country.
Over the past months, the issue of political violence has become a focal point of my reflections. These thoughts were triggered not only by incidents of violence witnessed in the current US elections but also during the time I was drafting a profile of John Hinckley Jr for the New York Times Magazine.
Hinckley, notorious for attempting to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1982 to win over a youthful Jodie Foster, is no longer hospitalised and resides in Williamsburg, Virginia. In my feature, published just after an attempt on Trump’s life by Matthew Thomas Crooks, I deliberated on Hinckley and Crooks as embodiments of the American stereotype of an isolated gunman.
They both, albeit in unique ways, are products of the nation’s cultural fabric that intertwine entrepreneurial individualism, heroism, and the remorseless intertwining of these with gun violence.
Ryan Routh, spotted concealed in shrubbery, off the fairway in Palm Beach by secret service agents, offers a rather unfortunate illustration of this typology. Appearing as a caricature of the ‘undecided voter,’ he voted for Trump in 2016, backed Bernie Sanders in 2020, made a few modest contributions to the Democratic Party, and is recognised as an independent voter.
Most touched by the political issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Routh, who has had no military exposure and is in his late fifties, journeyed to Kyiv in 2022 with a futile intention to enlist. Following this, he devised an eccentric plan to falsify passports for Afghan army veterans to enable them to journey to Ukraine and challenge the Russians.
In April last year, a peculiar man reached out to Elon Musk on Twitter, expressing his desire to purchase a used rocket. His unusual scheme? To arm the rocket with a warhead and attack Putin. He ventured out to pop stars Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews as well, requesting their musical prowess to commemorate Ukraine with a heartfelt anthem he had penned.
Reminded me a bit of the lead character in Saul Bellow’s novel Herzog, Moses Herzog. Amid his intense midlife crisis, Herzog frequently drafts imaginary letters to prominent figures such as Dwight Eisenhower and Martin Heidegger, in addition to the acquaintances in his circle.
What we have here is an eccentric individual harbouring grandiose dreams of having global political influence. His thought-out method to gain such notorious significance is the alleged assassination of a former, or perhaps upcoming, US president – an act that undeniably overshadows mere ballot casting.
What’s noteworthy about Routh is that despite his proposed radical actions, his political leanings appear surprisingly moderate, given that it even bears examining. He has no intention to incite anarchy or forge a Caliphate in the region of Florida Keys. His belief centres around Trump being Putin’s marionette and a potential threat to American democracy, arguments one could stumble upon within minutes of watching MSNBC.
Individuals like the unsuccessful Trump assassin Crooks and Routh, investigated for a purported assassination attempt, are undeniably outliers. However, they depict the extent to which savagery is seen as a method of political communication in American society. The Second Amendment of the American Constitution, recognising the right to possess firearms, is interpreted by many as a safeguard against despotic governance.
The decision to target a presidential candidate is somewhat aligned on the mad spectre with tweeting inquiries to renowned individuals like Bruno Mars and Elon Musk. For a nation notorious for diverse forms of violence – from aggressive political discourse, law enforcements’ excessive force over trivial subway fare evasions, routine mass shootings, to relentless global and proxy conflicts – it seems inevitable that increasingly bitter elections would be interspersed with assassination attempts on candidates.
Contrary to what President Biden suggests, political violence has always been a feature of American society. Now, in a country where firearms outnumber its citizens, the real concern is the probable escalation of such violence.