The attempted assassination of Donald Trump opens a dark new chapter in America’s cursed story of political violence, shaking a nation already deeply estranged during one of the most tense periods of its political history. The targeting of a former president at a campaign rally just days before he accepts the Republican nomination is, by definition, an attack on democracy and the right of each American to choose their leaders.

The presumptive Grand Old Party(GOP) nominee, Donald Trump was on stage, with supporters as usual behind him in bleachers holding up posters and wearing their ‘Make America Great Again(MAGA)’ regalia when shots rang out. Trump flinched, then grabbed the side of his face and disappeared behind his podium as people started to scream and the surreal nature of what was happening began to dawn. The ex-president later said that he felt a bullet rip through the skin of his ear, which poured with blood as he was rushed from the scene. The shots fired by a gunman on a roof outside the perimeter of his rally at Butler, Pennsylvania, came a fraction of an inch from being a lot worse. While Trump is not currently serving as president, this assassination bid underscores the ever-present threat that always hangs over the office and those who run for it—and especially for those who claim it. President Joe Biden is the 46th president, and four of his predecessors have been killed while in office, most recently John F. Kennedy in 1963. The fact that Trump was attacked ends a 40-year period in which many........

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