Bullets in Butler

Scott Hardie | July 14, 2024
What is your reaction to yesterday's assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania?

Erik Bates | July 15, 2024
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | July 15, 2024
I've said elsewhere how much I don't like Trump, but I don't wish death or suffering upon him. Violence is no cure for what ails us.

Great point, Erik. That kind of statement is just not realistic.

Similarly, I'm flummoxed at how many people say "this is not who we are" when something like this happens. The fact that it has happened so often says otherwise, and in a country that so valorizes its founding revolutionaries and modern troops while promoting violent culture, at a minimum it should not come as a surprise. But I think my real problem is in the phrasing: What I assume people mean is, "this is not who we should be," and I agree with that.

I'm also surprised at how many people instantly assumed that this incident was somehow staged by Trump. Really? A bullet passed by close enough to his brain to nick his ear and you think he'd be fine with that setup? A photographer from the very liberal New York Times captured the bullet on film, so it's not like no bullet was actually fired, unless a whole lot of people in varying organizations were all in on the hoax and are all keeping it secret despite having a very strong interest in not keeping that sort of thing under wraps. It's baffling to me that people leap immediately to wild explanations like fakery and lies and conspiracy theory when the truth is not at all hard to believe; this isn't even something improbable like the moon landings.

In the future, historians who like to play "what if?" with turning points in history will mine this event for all that it's worth.

Steve West | July 15, 2024
This presents Trump with a unique opportunity for humility and self-reflection. "Someone reviled the things I've said and done so much that they tried to end my life. Perhaps I should reflect on how I act and how I present my opinions. Naaahhhhh!"

Scott Hardie | July 17, 2024
Ha!

Opinion writers covering the J.D. Vance vice presidential nomination keep speculating about how the assassination may have led to it. I've seen comments along the lines of, "Trump realizes that he's mortal now and needs a long-term successor to carry on his work when he's gone." Look, Trump has been known to shoot from the hip sometimes without fully considering an issue, but even I don't think he made a decision that fast, less than 48 hours after the shooting. This decision was made weeks ago at a minimum, and withheld from the public this long because Biden's disastrous debate performance led to weeks of negative coverage for him that Trump's campaign didn't want to interrupt.