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Thus, when the president is claiming that the election may end democracy in the nation, it can be heard as much as a license as a warning,particularly when he adds “we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
We still do not know about the shooter in this assassination attempt. But we know all too well how unhinged people can find justification in the incendiary rhetoric of our politics.This moment did not occur in a vacuum; it occurred in a time when our leaders long abandoned reason for rage.
We have come full circleto where we began as a Republic. In the 1800 election, Federalists and Jeffersonians engaged in similar rage rhetoric.
Federalists told citizens that,if Jefferson were elected, “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incestwill be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes.”
Jeffersonians warned that, if Adams were reelected, “chains, dungeons, transportation, and perhaps the gibbet” awaited citizens and they “would instantaneously be put to death.”
Both sides stokedthe public’s anger and fears, and violence was seen across the nation.
In our current age of rage,politicians have sought to use the same anger and fear to rally support at any cost.
This is the cost.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4770670-the-attempted-assassination-of-trump-is-not-nearly-as-surprising-as-it-should-be/