Republicans' Feigned Outrage Must Not Be Allowed To Buoy Trump

It is now known that the man who shot Donald Trump on Saturday was a 20-year old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks. Whatever his motives, the rounds Crooks fired exploded into an already incendiary political situation, furnishing Trump and his MAGA supporters with further ammunition to attack the Democratic party and, by posing as innocent victims of nefarious enemies, liberal democracy itself.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), in the running for Trump's vice presidential pick, immediately took to X todeclare: "Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination." Rep. Mike Collins (R-Georgia) went further: "The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination," hewrote. And Republican Senator Mike Lee, has declaring that "we've got to take the political temperature down," has called on President Biden and the governors of Georgia and New York to immediately drop all criminal charges against Trump," reiterating the MAGA claim that such charges represent a "weaponization of justice" against Republicans. (Republicans Against Trumpresponded on X by posting that "Senator who last week promoted a tweet that called his legislative opponents traitors punishable by death now asks "to take the political temperature down.")

Such calls are shaping an emerging consensus that Trump is a victim of an escalating rhetorical violence.

Trump himself has wasted no time in saying as much,posting on his "Truth Social" platform:

"We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. . . In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win. I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin."

Here's the problem: the "unity" in the face of "wickedness" to which he appeals is the unity of his supporters—along with credulous potential supporters–in struggle against those Democrats, liberals and leftists that he has long claimed are the source of all political evil. It was only months ago, after all, that he declared, on Veteran's Day, that: "We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections . . . They'll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream."

The violence at Trump's rally was terrible, and for all kinds of reasons it makes sense that almost everyone would focus on what happened in that instant. But no commentator of whom I am aware has considered a simple question: what was Trump saying when he was shot?

C-Span has posted avideo of the entire rally. Trump spoke for less than five minutes before being shot (at the 8:11 mark). He began by denouncing "the fake news" for supposedly under-reporting his "big crowd." He then mocked "Biden" for his tiny crowds. He then immediately segued to the theme of the theft of the country: "Good hardworking American patriots . . . . our country is going to hell . . . millions and millions of people are pouring in from prisons and mental institutions. We're going to stop it . . . We're gonna deport. Deport. . . . We're going to defeat crooked Joe Biden and laughin' Kamala Harris and we're going to take back the White House and take back our country . . . Our country's been stolen from us. . . . One of the greatest crimes is what they've done over four years . . . " Denouncing the 2020 election as "a rigged deal," he repeated that "We're gonna take back our country . . . . but it's not easy, because we have millions and millions of people in our country who shouldn't be here, dangerous people . . . criminals . . . drug dealers . . . " Seconds later, celebrating his "great borders," the shots rang out.

Trump was shot while just beginning to whip his crowd into a frenzy of resentment against all of those responsible for "stealing" both the 2020 election and the country itself.

This has been Trump's consistent message since first announcing his candidacy in 2015. It is the message behind his call for "the Squad" to "go back home," his talk of "shit hole countries," his vicious denunciations of "RINO Republicans," his suggestion that General Milley ought to be "executed," and his relentless attacks on "woke liberals," "Marxists and Communists," liberals, progressives, and Democrats. And of course his incitement of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

If American politics is currently in the throes of rhetorical polarization, then this polarization is extremely asymmetric. For no Democratic leader has ever associated with paramilitary "Patriot" groups or come close to promoting violence or advocating insurrection.

None other than renegade Republican Adam Kinzinger hassaid it well: "People are allowed to be outraged at the political rhetoric, but not both support Trump and feign outrage. His violent rhetoric isn't even metaphoric."

The great danger is that a torrent of sentimentalism, political idiocy, and deference to Trump will allow the long-standing metaphorical and actual violence of Trumpism to be forgotten, helping Trump to continue claiming to be the innocent whose victimization personifies the victimization of all "patriotic" Americans. The photo of Trump's fist-pumping while yelling "Fight" after the shooting has gone viral, and is already being labeled "iconic." And Republicans have wasted no time in weaponizing it. As the Politicoheadline states: "Blood turns to martyrdom as Republicans rally around Trump. The incident served to reinforce one of the pillars of Trump's image: strength."

It is certain that Trump and the GOP will play this for all it is worth during next week's four day Republican national convention in Milwaukee. Meanwhile Joe Biden's candidacy totters amidst worries about his age and mental acuity, opening up real divisions within the Democratic party that need somehow to be closed.

We are experiencing a perfect storm of democratic crisis.

President Biden has admirably denounced the shooting of Trump and, in the spirit of comity, has temporarilysuspended his campaign's communications and ads. His full-throateddeclaration that "there's no place in America for this kind of violence" indeed contrasts sharply with the responses of Trump and his allies, whose ire has focused not on political violence in general, but on the violence against Trump. Biden, however old, feckless, and politically precarious, is a President who supports constitutional democracy and acts like it. In the coming weeks Trump will surely seize on this as a sign of weakness.

However the politics surrounding the Democratic party's unfolds, it is essential that everyone who cares about the defense of our weak and enfeebled constitutional democracy refuse to allow the Republican party to pose as victims of tyrannical liberals and as defenders of the peace. Trumpism centers on the fostering of bitter division, and on commitments to mass deportation, police violence, and the political persecution of opponents. Nothing, including Saturday's shooting, ought to be allowed to overshadow the danger that the MAGA Republican party now poses. Democrats and their supporters will face rhetorical challenges in the days to come. But unilateral rhetorical disarmament is not an option. The danger of Trump and of Trumpism is more real today than it was 24 hours ago. We must not let Americans forget it.