Two weeks after his shaky performance during a televised debate raised serious questions about his age and mental acuity, yesterday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump has complicated President Joe Biden’s plans to relaunch his campaign taking a harder line against his Republican opponent.
Reporting from CNN described his campaign’s efforts to “calibrate” its political messaging amid the “delicate national moment.”
“The big issue is how to campaign against him or attack him,” said one Democratic Party strategist. “Can we even do that this week?”
Complicating matters further, the Republican National Convention is set to start Monday in Wisconsin, where Trump will likely be greeted to a hero’s welcome by throngs of adoring supporters. Advisors have reportedly been formulating Democratic messaging in response to the event for “some time.” Those talking points and attack lines are now under reconsideration as renewed focus is brought to the level of political polarization in the United States.
“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” posted former President Barack Obama on the X social media platform Saturday. “Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics. Michelle and I are wishing him a quick recovery.”
Biden made similar comments in the hours after the attack.
“We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this,” the president said after attending a mass service in his home state of Delaware. Biden returned to the White House shortly after and reportedly plans to make an address from the Oval Office Sunday evening.
The president also rejected claims online suggesting the Secret Service had denied Trump additional protection, claiming the former president had ‘“already received a heightened level of security.” The federal agency has faced criticism over its perceived shortcomings amid the first attack on the life of a presidential candidate in the United States in several decades.
The incident has brought renewed attention to political divisions in the country during an election year like no other. Biden has cast the former president as a unique threat to US democracy, a framing that has drawn criticism from some observers after yesterday’s shooting. Trump and several of his advisors have faced indictment on charges they conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election over allegations of a “fake electors” plot to certify the former president’s victory in several states won by Biden.
Much of the Trump campaign’s messaging has taken a similar tone, in turn claiming the former president faces political persecution by Democratic Party officials.
Recent polling suggests a broad lack of trust in the United States’ electoral system amid a wider institutional crisis in the country. One poll conducted last year showed about a third of Trump supporters agree with the statement that “democracy is no longer a viable system” and “America should explore alternative forms of government to ensure stability and progress.” Almost a quarter of President Biden’s supporters endorsed the statement.
Another survey showed only half of Americans “have faith in democracy” while a poll in 2022 revealed 44 percent believe the country is headed toward a second civil war.
Journalist Dan Lazare claims the United States’ lockstep support for Israel in its campaign in the Gaza Strip has eroded Americans’ confidence in the US government as polling reveals voters increasingly sympathize with the Palestinian cause. Antiwar activists are reportedly planning to stage large demonstrations outside of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
“Democrats are about to post more sympathetic messages about Donald Trump than 40,000 massacred Palestinians,” said one user on the X social media platform yesterday. The comment has received some 105,000 likes.