I was deeply impressed with Trump’s reaction under fire. My friend Dave McCormick was with him on the stage in Pennsylvania. Dave has been to war, and he knows the wide variance of how brave soldiers respond to gunfire. The kind of defiance he saw - the world saw - in Donald Trump after being wounded by an assassin’s bullet is astoundingly impressive, vigorous, and inspiring.
The Trump assassination attempt is a shocking development in our culture, too. I want to share my thoughts on it, and maybe give you some solace. I’m writing this because the media narratives are failing us.
We know the motive. The shooter was motivated by hatred of Donald Trump. Maybe there was a policy agenda, but it’s now known that he was influenced by progressive claims that Trump was going to end democracy. Many in the media (and Dem partisans) are playing a stupid game of urging us not to jump to conclusions because the conclusions are obvious and harmful to them. There is a culture of hate in our politics. We all know this is true, and we know it is dangerous, and we know this is what *motivated* this deranged young man. When Biden uses the word “Bullseye” and major magazines run cover stories equating Trump to Hitler, the hate isn’t a secret. Pretending that motive is something involving deconstructing a madman’s psychology that is even possible is a kind of gaslighting.
Platitudes are helpful, but not without personal acceptance of responsibility. Our era is polluted with hateful content and slogans. If President Biden and progressives want to be helpful, they should acknowledge personal instances of using hateful terms, of lacking grace (assuming the worst), of groupthink tribalism. And this cuts both ways. Let’s see if President Trump can measure up to this standard. Before doing that, let me see if I can measure up. I am not as graceful as I should be. I’m trying, but I can be better.
No, this isn’t an extraordinarily dark time. Shocking events lead many to think these are the darkest of times. I want you to hear me: 2024 is not the darkest of times. It’s not even very dark. You have to remember history, and try to imagine how dark the world was in the wake of two horrific world wars, with a terrifying new nuclear weapon proliferating, raw memories of a depression that saw elderly beggars starving on cold streets. Imagine how dark it must have felt in the summer of 1968 with RFK and MLK gunned down and the nation on fire with race and Vietnam protests. Imagine the 1910s with a plague and women unable to even vote. Imagine worrying, as we did when were young, that the nuclear Armageddon would come before our high school graduation day. To be sure, Hamas terrorism is searing and Russia’s war in Ukraine is impossible to accept, but was the Rwandan genocide any easier to bear? Russia is a paper tiger. China is malign, but it’s a far cry from the horrors of Mao’s China. You have to remember the ugliness of the past so that you can appreciate:
The stakes in the 2024 election aren’t bigger than ever. In truth, the stakes are pretty low. Personally, I want my side to win because of I think DEI is really unhealthy culturally and that identity politics are ruinous. But I’m confident that American values will win out over that baloney, regardless. Cultural malignancies are nothing new, and they are overcome, if not by my guy winning the White House, then by some other force that manifests the common sense of the American people. The fact is that Trump is not a right-winger. He never has been. He leans a little bit isolationist, so he sure isn’t a war-monger, but come on. Recognize the apocalyptic nonsense (Trump is a threat to democracy!) for what it is: a business model! The progressive elements in the MSM told you that McCain was an extremist in 2008. What a laugh. They made Mitt Romney into a conservative monster when he was the Republican nominee in 2012. What a laugh. They turned the most bipartisan Presidents in my life (Bush I and II) into monsters, too. Now that Trump has watered down the GOP platform, what rube would believe he’s a Right-winger?
America is going to be fine. This country is richer than ever and stronger than ever. We aren’t going to have a civil war, for Pete’s sake. Granted, I think the national debt is an existential threat - and it may have an ugly reckoning - but I have no doubt the nation will overcome. We are going to keep on creating awesome computer technology and life-saving medicines. We going to be the nation that reaches the stars. The big picture of the real progress happening in YOUR life because of THIS country is beyond debate. So, chill. Enjoy the convention. Have a barbecue. Cheer the Olympians. And crank up the anthem!
I fully agree that hatred is fueling our political machine right now. But please be careful not to lead your readers down the road that it is fueled by only one side. Both parties and both candidates are guilty of hateful terms. Skewing that reality even slightly serves only to build the problem.