Attack on Trump exploited: "An opportunity to shame dissenters from the MAGA movement into silence"

“May you live in interesting times” is a curse, as these last three weeks in American politics remind us. President Joe Biden was routed by Donald Trump in their first presidential debate. Biden’s candidacy is now in serious doubt as leading Democrats have been calling for him to reconsider if he is the best candidate to win the 2024 election — and if his advanced age means that he is even capable of remaining in office and finishing his term. The historic debate was followed several days later by a Supreme Court decision that granted Trump (and his Republican-fascist successors) the power of a king by making them essentially above the law. In a cruel irony, the Supreme Court made Trump a de facto king the same week as the July 4th Independence Day holiday. A holiday meant to be a celebration of American freedom and the American democratic project instead felt like a funeral.

The American people would be allowed no rest or time to recover.

On Saturday, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was hit in the ear by a bullet. The Secret Service rushed to protect him. In what will be an iconic image that may very well win Donald Trump the presidency, he would then stand up, his face covered in blood, and raise his fist in the air while saying “fight, fight, fight!” Trump’s followers at the rally were simultaneously stunned, shocked, scared, enthralled and excited as they responded with cheers and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” to the ex-president’s act of defiance in the face of death. For those of us watching these events live on television, it was utterly surreal.

The would-be assassin was swiftly killed by the Secret Service. Three people attending the rally were critically wounded. One of them would die from their injuries.

Whoever is controlling this simulation or writing the timeline for this version of Earth, needs to reset it. We “the Americans” are at our breaking point. “Trauma” is an overused word in 21st-century America. But “trauma” most certainly describes what the American people, both individually and collectively, have experienced these last few weeks.

In an attempt to better navigate these maddening events, I recently spoke with a range of experts about the country’s democracy crisis, where we are in the story that is the Age of Trump, and what may happen next with the 2024 election and America’s political life.

Steven Beschloss is a journalist and author of several books, including "The Gunman and His Mother." His website is America, America.

The anxious-filled turbulence of the last weeks, beginning with the media frenzy to drive Joe Biden out of the race and including the assassination attempt this weekend on Donald Trump, vividly illustrates the need for thoughtful, responsible leadership. I would like to imagine there are two presidential candidates who intrinsically and emphatically understand the need to renounce violence, but we know there is only one. That guarantees more anger and more violent incitement as the election ramps up. This period in our collective life remains a deeply polarized battle between those who love and are committed to democracy and those who would throw it all away and usher in fascism. I believe that it’s the fear of a tragic outcome—the end of the centuries-old American democratic experiment—that is behind much of the panic by Democrats and the piling on of a rabid media.

We have every reason to expect that Trump and the MAGA Republicans will exploit the assassination attempt to emphasize Trump’s near-martyrdom and divine necessity while falsely blaming Democrats for the hot rhetoric and rising climate of violence. As much as Joe Biden needs to aggressively argue the case against letting a convicted felon, rapist and wannabe dictator back into office, we also will benefit from leadership that reminds the country of the need for stability, unity and wisdom. I dearly hope an overwhelming majority gets the message.

Dr. Jennifer Mercieca is a historian of American political rhetoric. She is a professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University and author of several books including "Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump." 

We are in a very dark place politically. Trump will use the attack against him at his Pennsylvania rally to claim martyr status and will seek retribution against anyone who is viewed as disloyal. If he is put back in office, he will have unlimited power over us all. The biggest story in the United States (and around the world) is the threat of Donald Trump. His agenda for his second presidency is fascist and the Supreme Court ruling enables him to complete his authoritarian takeover without accountability or restraint. This is arguably the most dangerous time for democracy in America since its founding. We've never had one of the two major parties captured by an autocrat, nor have we had a compliant judiciary to support autocratic rule.

That the media are talking about anything other than the fascist threat facing America is baffling and frustrating. It seems that they're not taking it seriously and they believe that once Trump is in power, he'll allow the media to continue to publish independently of his propaganda machine. They're sorely mistaken. If Trump becomes president again you can count on him controlling the media. If Trump wins again you cannot count on the rule of law, the protection of private property, or religious freedom. And the threat isn't just to America. If Trump becomes president again, he will withdraw the U.S. from NATO and form an alliance with autocratic leaders around the world—Putin, Orban, Netanyahu, MBS, and others. Together they will control the world's nuclear weapons, oil, and fresh food and water. They will have complete autocratic rule in their own countries where they will reward their friends and punish their enemies and they will rule over the globe like mafia leaders. I'm encouraged by the election results in the UK and France and other places around the world, but the fascist threat is still very real and very serious.

Darrin Bell is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip “Candorville," and author of the graphic novel “The Talk." He is also a contributing cartoonist for the New Yorker.

I don’t think most Americans have realized how much the ground has shifted beneath their feet. There have been so very many horrendous rulings coming out of the MAGA Supreme Court over the past few years, that it’s hard to keep track of the ones (Chevron and the immunity ruling, in particular) that seem to have been calculated to pave the way for Project 2025’s dystopian blueprint for a new America. We’re no longer the nation we were one month ago.

The Republican Party’s transformation from “the party of law and order” into a crime syndicate was complete when they embraced a convicted felon who’s also an adjudicated rapist (it would take a run-on sentence to list everything else courts have nailed him for). He’s a treasonous would-be dictator and an entire right-wing movement is busy building the infrastructure of his autocratic second term. The debate was President Biden’s chance to call all that out and rally the nation against it, but he failed. And he’s spent the subsequent two weeks telling America he’s the best hope Democrats and the country have left. Maybe he’s only wrong because there’s no hope at all. It’s possible the right-wing anti-democracy movement has already succeeded.

It feels as if we’re nearing the final page of the “democracy” chapter of a future American history book, and we’re about to turn the page to something else. Or maybe we turned it long ago, when we as a nation allowed the Supreme Court to decide the presidency in 2000, and it’s taken this long for us to realize it. Whatever happens next, we need to wake up and realize that the country we thought we had is long gone. If Trump wins, there’s no telling how far it can unravel. If he loses and Democrats keep the Senate, Democrats need to recognize they’ve been losing a cold civil war for decades, and start fighting. They need to kill the filibuster and expand the Court on day one, or whatever else they try to do to counter this existential threat won’t matter.

Last night, a MAGA (formerly known as “conservative”) cartoonist tried to shame me for spending nearly the last decade pointing out Trump’s authoritarian proclivities, and for depicting Trump and his movement as an existential threat to American democracy. It didn’t matter to him that the shooter was a registered Republican, he sensed an opportunity to shame dissenters from the MAGA movement into silence. I expect to see a lot more of that between now and the election. And I expect it’ll work, because Republicans and Democrats are held to different standards.

When a MAGA foot soldier bludgeoned Paul Pelosi nearly to death with a hammer (only because his real target, the Speaker of the House, wasn’t home at the time), Republicans incessantly mocked Pelosi. Donald Trump himself mocked Pelosi. When a MAGA mob invaded the Capitol building and domestic terrorists hunted lawmakers with zip ties and bear spray, Donald Trump did nothing to stop them for hours, and has spent the last few years promising to pardon them if re-elected. That’s the reprehensible fascist Republicans are now going to demand we stop depicting as a reprehensible fascist.

David Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, and former elected official. His new book is "Saving Democracy: A User's Manual for Every American."

The American people do not support the extremism of the far right at any level. After Dobbs, that has been reflected in Democratic overperformance again and again, from Kansas to Alabama to Ohio.  I navigate the ups and downs of things I can’t control by focusing on the things I CAN control and where I can make the biggest difference: fighting for democracy at all levels and ensuring people understand the many freedoms they would lose if Trump and his allies at all levels win in 2024.

The news media and other observers are completely missing the big picture by focusing on one candidate’s poor debate performance.

For example, in the same debate, the former president and current GOP candidate said that Putin told him it was his “dream” to take over Ukraine. There was no follow-up question at the time, and as far as I can tell, nothing since. The details of that conversation truly matter. For this year’s campaign, we deserve to know what someone who was Commander in Chief at the time (I presume that's when the meeting happened) and wants to be Commander in Chief again, said in response to such a dramatic statement. His response may have impacted Putin’s decision-making.

So, we see weeks of frenzy over Biden’s debate performance and age, and nothing about Trump’s Putin reveal, just as one example.

That’s a problem, and not just for Biden. But for democracy.

Of course, the press will and should keep asking questions of Biden. But the press must ask equally tough and persistent questions of Trump as well—in the moment (like that debate), and after, beginning now.

Applying two standards because Trump’s anti-democracy instincts are already understood is itself a step away from democracy.

I don’t sense that people have gotten it wrong or that Trump was considered “doomed” because of his multiple criminal trials, for example. I’ve always sensed that this would be a tight election, which of course has people on edge because the stakes are so enormous.

I do think there’s a blind spot of covering legal matters as if they have a greater impact on votes than they do. Our rule of law is so broken, courts are not going to save democracy—it’s on the voters. For that and other reasons, I’d move half the nation’s press corps out of D.C. and away from court coverage and out to states, where so much of the damage to democracy is taking place.

What do I think happens next?

I guarantee that the ever-growing, multi-partisan, pro-democracy army keeps working through thick and thin. That grassroots energy has fueled two years of overperformance, and it’s the key to protecting democracy this year.