Good morning. On Saturday night, the United States came within a couple of inches of an unthinkable democratic crisis. The assassination attempt against Donald Trump – which left a spectator and the gunman dead, two others critically injured, and the former president with a wound to his right ear – felt like a moment of what Trump once darkly called “American carnage”. And it is likely to have far-reaching ramifications for the US election that we can’t yet predict.
Authorities have discovered bomb-making materials in the suspect’s home and car, while Joe Biden last night delivered a primetime address from the Oval Office calling for “national unity”. Meanwhile, Trump said that his speech at the Republican convention on Thursday – which will take place amid tightened security - would bring “the whole country, even the whole world, together”.
