The Witness Chronicles, July 14, 2024

Political violence in the US

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Calling For Violence Begets Violence and It Can Backfire

Only love can conquer hate

A man was killed, two others fighting for survival, and an ex-President wounded but OK. Why? This is not the way we win elections in America.

Repeated calls for violence have pervaded the extreme right of the Republican Party with violent rhetoric from their leader, but once unleashed, violence cannot be controlled or limited. It is a lesson all of us should have learned. Yesterday Donald Trump learned that unfortunate lesson the hard way. The question is whether his party has.

We immediately heard insinuations of a dire conspiracy before any facts were known, some spread by Trump’s supporters. The Kremlin in Russia gleefully claimed that with this action Trump had won the election, though nothing supports that idea.

In fact, we do not know how this will play out. At this point, the day after, little is known about the shooter, who is also dead, other than his age and where he lived. We don’t know his motivation and the rampant speculation about it is entirely inappropriate. But too many people will jump to conclusions and nothing good will come of that.

The FBI will find out the facts. Political assassination in this country, regardless of the target or their politics, is taken very seriously, or should be. Right now a chaotic election has become even more chaotic, if that is possible. And tomorrow the Republican Party has their national convention to nominate Trump for President.

The world will be watching their actions, their tone, and listening to what they are saying. And we will see if they continue a campaign marred by fear and hate or come to their senses. I have little faith in the latter. The seeds of violence were sewn years ago and we already saw deaths during the January Sixth insurrection.

Many put the blame squarely on Trump but now he finds himself on the receiving end of the words he has based much of his campaign on. Anger, violence, and fear have that effect on those who think it empowers them.

Obviously this young man who fired the shots yesterday got that message and it somehow pushed him over the edge, proving that violence unleashed can backfire on those who unleash it.

Donald Trump was very fortunate that he received only a minor wound but it was only inches from being deadly. And for those crowded around him it was deadly. The man who was killed was apparently trying to protect his family.

Will the right learn anything from this? Or will they simply see it as leverage to help them win the election? We are hearing both things, which is shameful for those who see this as political opportunity.

There have been many calls for calm and to be united, and they come from both sides, but will that last? Or will we see someone seeking revenge and escalating to violence? There is great danger of that and we know many conflicts begin that way.

This is a test for all Americans that we have to win. We cannot devolve into violence on either side. Hate of any kind always creates more hate and can only be defeated by love and compassion. As humans we fail to learn that hard truth over and over again.

~ I write The Grasshopper, an occasional letter on the creative life and it’s sister, mostly daily publication The Witness Chronicles, a place for my articles on politics and climate. They share a free and paid subscription. I don’t paywall any content in these, however this is how I live and I strongly believe all writers and creatives should get paid, if we provide value. Your support with a paid subscription helps make that happen.

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