The Trump assassination attempt and its possible aftermath are so horrific on so many levels. For what it’s worth, here are two excerpts from my interview with the Indian TV station WION (World Is One News) a few hours after the attack. As you might imagine, they capture just a slice of my views on the matter. The American woman who’s also contributing is WION’s U.S. correspondent – with whom, you might note, I disagree on a couple of points.
In one of the clips, I refer to a Washington Post article that ironically appeared earlier in the day, on Trump-supporting, violence-advocating Christian nationalists. In its own way, it’s just as frightening as the shooting.
The days just seem to be getting darker lately. But let’s not give up on our creating light down the road.
Agreed. I was 10 when President Kennedy was assassinated. 5th grade, when our principal walked in to our classroom, whispering to our teacher what had happened. It shocked the world because we didn’t have hateful rhetoric in our country like today. There was unrest because of the cultural revolution of the 60’s just beginning, which ultimately resulted in the shift in our collective attitudes against racism, sexism and against our participation in the Vietnam War. The President then was loved and respected, and the White House culture was called “ Camelot”.
However, we were naive to feel that the culture had actually changed. The hateful racism and sexism had just been pushed underground. When President Obama was elected, it all came roaring back, the pendulum swinging with violence. As a culture, we just moved one step forward, and have gone more than two steps back, fueled by corporate greed and the NRA flooding our country with weapons. The rhetoric of hate, using social media and traditional media spouting disinformation, “ alternative facts” ( we used to call it propaganda) has become acceptable, ironically, by the party of “ family values “.
To me, all of this is a tribal backlash from white men, who felt it was their birthright to have all power.
I hardly know what to say after such a sobering event.
We don’t yet know what was going on in the young assassin’s mind.
Violent rhetoric is more than just speech.
Take a step back.
Denounce violence.
Well done, Steve. From the NYT: “Some prominent Trump backers, including Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, said that inflammatory language by Democrats was to blame for the violence.” What a surprise. My fear, well-founded I believe, is that this will be the narrative pushed by many in the Republican camp at the RNC and beyond, with no acknowledgment of Trump’s role (and that of his countless enablers) in significantly ratcheting up the potential for violence. All the best, Neil