“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence.” President Joe Biden’s reaction to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump was more like a desperate prayer than a statement of fact. There is indeed a very large place in America for political violence, a psychological space that has always been there but that now seems more wide open than it has been since the 1960s.
On Saturday night, when Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one attendee, critically injuring two others and lightly wounding his principle target, he was giving expression to a bloodlust that has been implicit in the furious polarisation of American democracy.
Repulsion at this irruption of murderous intent into the presidential election campaign may bring a momentary illusion of unity – anyone who believes in democracy should be genuinely horrified by what Crooks did. But the illusion of bipartisanship will not last long. If it is possible to make American democracy even more tribal this event will achieve that outcome.
For his already fanatical devotees Trump’s fortunate survival will be seen as a miracle – further proof that their leader is not just a politician but a divinely-sanctioned instrument of salvation for America. Instead of having a sobering effect the shooting will up the ante on Trump’s messianic appeal. Since God has spared him those who resist him are not merely political........