Saturday morning, I awoke to the news that Dr. Ruth Westheimer had died the night before; for the uninformed, Westheimer was a revolutionary figure in the public discussion of sex and acceptance. By Saturday afternoon, I learned that androgynous fitness icon Richard Simmons had passed away after many years of his health, mental stability, and caretaking taking center stage when he disappeared from the public. Both figures were winsome and often willing participants in jokes at their expense for late-night TV hosts. The nostalgic melancholy of my youth was pierced around 6 ‘o’clock that same evening by the news that a 20-year-old rooftop shooter nearly assassinated former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
As is my wont, my first thought was not to rush to my laptop keyboard to be the first to weigh in with commentary but to wait for the facts, recrimination, and finger-pointing that was sure to come. The usual suspects stepped forward: Senators and short listers for Donald Trump’s Vice President J.D. Vance, Tim Scott, and Congressperson(s) Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ronny Jackson made directed and veiled statements blaming President Joe Biden for the maniacal actions of the deranged shooter. Mike Collins (R-GA) went so far as to suggest that Mr. Biden be arrested, X-posting, Joe Biden sent the orders followed with an even more unhinged post: “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination.”
For the majority, it has been a moment of reflection and a reminder of our perilous political times. The shooting of Democrat Gabby Giffords at her rally outside an Arizona mall, which has forever changed the trajectory of her life, is but one example of the more typical responses, “Political violence is terrifying. I know,” said former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. “I’m holding former President Trump and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence in my heart. Political violence is un-American and is never acceptable—never.” As crass as some might find political analysis, it cannot be forgotten the political rhetoric that the GOP is so anxious to place on the lips of Joe Biden (for political advantage) is part and parcel of the Trump campaign. Talk of revenge and retribution, political arrest, extra-judicial camps, a “blood bath” and poisoning of the blood of the country, and the infamous “fight like hell” statement made steps from the Capitol at the January 6 attempted coup in Washington, DC.
Warnings from Democrats that Donald Trump is a potential authoritarian willing to ignore the Constitution and bring down almost 250 years of liberty are accurate. It is also true when Mr. Biden said, [there was] “no place in America for this. We must unite as one nation to condemn it. It's sick, it's sick.” Lest anyone believe this is victim blaming, let me assuage that notion formerly and firmly. The cowardly and dastardly actions of the unhinged assassin are reprehensible in the strongest of terms. I am also capable of holding two thoughts at once. Donald Trump is a danger to democracy, and American history from Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan tells us violence is not an answer, and we can do better. Booth, Oswald, and Hinckley were sick, selfish men with visions of self-aggrandizement, and so was the latest gunman.
Vote Against Guns