The memes started almost immediately, a plague of hastily photoshopped images turning the assassination attempt into satire before the enormity had time to properly land (some even conflating last night’s conflict in Berlin). They were clever but they weren’t funny. In a flash, this Presidential campaign suddenly turned into a deadly melodrama, starring a beleaguered nonagenarian in one corner and the victim of an assassination attempt in the other. Donald Trump, who will have had an immediate jolt of tabloid mortality, this time at the hand of an assassin rather than the passing of time, is now an even more entrenched figure of 21st century politics.
The terrible thing is, it could have so easily happened before and could easily happen again. When JFK was shot in Dallas in 1963, America was a very different country, not subject to the vicious culture wars of 2024. The country also wasn’t harbouring the gun culture which now dominates the news cycle on a predictably regular basis.
The idea of there being an assassination attempt on the most divisive figure in American politics is unfortunately not surprising, while the fallout will be predictable. It speaks volumes that many people, on hearing the news, thought it was a spoof anyway, perhaps even more proof of our desensitisation. Unfortunately, Butler, Pennsylvania is just another addition to the litany of madness we’ve witnessed at Florence in Kentucky, Fordyce in Arkansas, Round Rock in Texas and Rochester Hills in Michigan.
This kind of violence was once an abnormality, indicative of a societal strain caused by the tensions to be found in the freedoms of a post-war democracy; these says they are seen as an almost acceptable byproduct of personal indignation. And our inability to affect change manifests simply as a cartoon shrug. Others, on the political fringes, accelerationists, are already trying to use the situation as a platform for further violence, as evidenced by the fact that “civil war” started trending not long after the shooting. Let’s see how the former President uses this, let’s see how measured he is in the days following the attack. We may be surprised. Or not. His statement from yesterday, encouraging one and all to “stand united”, bodes well. Let’s see. We are already mired in a pool of deep fakes, counter narratives and conspiracy theories, but the next few days will be crucial to how the election path now pans out.
This attack has already humanised Trump, and encouraged many to think of him differently. “Is he really so bad?” was be one of the rhetorical questions being whispered yesterday, especially when compared to a man who has trouble remembering the name of his Vice President. Sympathy reared its head. In the last 24 hours he has been elevated to hero status, a man with luck on his side, and who certainly won’t let us forget it. He has indicated he has every intention of showing up at Republican National Convention later this week and giving the speech in which he’s expected to name his vice presidential candidate. This will also be an opportunity to contextualise this weekend’s attack. He spent yesterday at his golf club in Bedminster in New Jersey, licking his wounds, talking to doctors and contemplating his handicap.
Gun control remains off the table as part of Trump’s manifesto, a position that will only be compounded by his ability to cheat death
The sad fact is, the attack is unlikely to affect his relationship with the NRA. Gun control remains off the table as part of Trump’s manifesto, a position that will only be compounded by his ability to cheat death.
Not only does this humanise Trump, it turns him into a folk hero, or at least the type of folk hero who exists largely for the sake of social media. Just moments after his brush with death, the former President was raising his fist in defiance, repeating the word he has so often invoked in times of stress, obstruction and insurrection: fight. This appalling, shocking, demoralising event - one of the must significant this century - will live long in the public consciousness, and amplify Trump’s ability to use it for his own narrative.
For now, he is unassailable. As the memes have already begun telling us. One wonders how the weekend’s events will effect the White House’s appetite for self-reflection.
