We have a two party system in the United States: a party of stupid and a party of evil. As of Saturday, July 13, one of the parties has earned a name change: the party of evil is clearly the Party of Assassination.
A few caveats are in order. First of all, initial reports of any incident like this–and even others not so momentous–are always wrong. Not completely, of course, but they always contain errors large and small. Secondly, it is important to note that the assassination attempt was solely the fault of the person who pulled the trigger. The person who climbed the ladder and crawled into position to fire. Justice for him was swift and final.
But to say that it was solely his responsibility is something different. How did this 20-year old kid get to the decision to try to kill an ex-president and current candidate for that office? What made him think that was a good idea? What made him think it was morally justifiable?
In 2009, Democrats were obsessively worried that someone would try to assassinate President Obama, as I wrote about at the time. There was never any threat. No attempt was ever made. That’s because–again, as I reviewed then–it is Republican presidents who have been the targets of assassination. The sole Democrat on the list is President John F. Kennedy. The motivation behind that assassination is still the subject of debate and is the origin of the modern use of the term “conspiracy theory.”
Since then, Presidents Reagan and Trump have been the only targets of assassins and both only survived by the grace of God–which President trump has openly acknowledged. What else do they have in common? Both were great reformers, both were great patriots, and both were serious–even existential–threat to the liberal/progressive project of the left.
What made the assassin think shooting President Trump was a good idea? What made him think it was morally justifiable?
Maybe it was the ceaseless demonization of President Trump, starting in 2016, when this kid was only 12 years old. Trump is literally Hitler. Trumps is a threat to “our democracy”. (Never mind that we’re a constitutional republic, but that’s another topic.) Trump is going to start nuclear war. And on and on. That’s all he heard his whole adolescent life.
President Biden saying, only a few day earlier, that someone needed to put a target on Trump is equivalent to Henry II’s “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”–that resulted in the assassination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Not a direct order, but a strong suggestion that four of his knights acted on.
We can go back even farther in history to the Biblical story of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11:14-15). In this case the order was direct: rulers since Henry’s time have learned more subtle methods.
Presidents Obama and Biden come out pretty quickly to condemn the “violence.” Biden cancelled his TV adverts (for a day, anyway), and capitulated to Trumps’ request and finally allowed Secret Service protection for RFK, Jr. And well they might that failed assassination attempt. Had it succeeded, they realized, true or not, that no Democrat politician in the country would be safe.
The character assassination must stop. As we’ve seen, it inevitably leads to real assassination. While we’re discussing only presidents, the problem is wider: the Congressional baseball game practice, and New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin come quickly to mind.
Violence is in the DNA of the radical left. It is not in America’s. It must be brought under control. It must be stopped. The Party of Assassination must be utterly defeated–at the ballot box, which is the American way.