The Secret Service responded both times, but mistakes were not uncommon. Sunday’s attacker, Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested minutes later more than 50 miles away.
The first attack, in which a bullet grazed his ear and blood was seen running down the former president’s face, had a media impact in his favour. Is the same true of this second case?
“I suppose that the attack will be favorable to him, because he has always accused that he is being persecuted and harassed in all areas. Legally, financially, and to top it off, they are trying to kill him. It is quite graphic evidence that he is right, that they want to eliminate him,” he said in conversation with THE AMERICAS DAILY political analyst and academic Frank Rodríguez.
While several polls suggest a close race for the White House, the actions of Donald Trump’s opponents in recent months and the rhetoric they use may indicate that his chances of returning to the presidency are higher than the poll statistics reported by some media outlets show.
“I think there is also a vote of sympathy for people who feel distressed because they believe that this poor man is living under the tension that he could be assassinated at any moment. I see no reason why this would be detrimental to his chances of winning the election,” Rodriguez added.
However, for the analyst Anthony Verdugo, this latest attack is still regrettable because it shows the deterioration of security, but he points out that it will have less importance than the first one since the images have not been seen.
“I don’t think it’s going to have the same impact that it had in Pennsylvania, because in this case, even though it is an attack, I’m sorry to say, we didn’t see a visual attack, we didn’t see blood or a fallen man being lifted up and escorted by the secret service. All of those were very dramatic images that we didn’t see in this case, so I don’t see it as something that’s going to have that much impact,” says Verdugo before adding, “but at the same time I think there’s a narrative that’s developing here and it’s that someone wants to see Trump dead. There are several reasons, one is that we live in a different world. At least 20% of the American people, I think it’s more, but the numbers show that, are struggling with their mental health; depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder. They are easily affected by this rhetoric. We live in a society where, even though we have great media and many ways to talk to other people, we are more isolated than ever. We go through our own cycles, in our own orbit and our own world that we create, unfortunately, our own reality. “So people are more isolated, and you have to add to that the mental state that is not very healthy, plus the rhetoric. It is a lethal combination.”
For his part, Luis Fleishman, a sociologist and professor, considers that security around electoral campaigns is very “worrying.”
“I get the impression that this time it wasn’t a complete failure, like the first attack. But obviously the fact that a person like that, with an AK weapon, came within 300 meters of where Trump was and had an idea and knew where the former president was, is very worrying,” Fleishman continues. “It was lucky that there was a person from the secret service who detected him, who saw him because apparently he didn’t hide very well. So I think that getting so close is a sign for security to improve and not only for Trump, but also for Kamala Harris.”
“I think there are risks in general because society is very polarized. It is true that it happened to Trump twice and not to Biden or Kamala, but that does not mean that it cannot happen to them,” Fleishman continues. “I think there are risks in general because society is very polarized.
So I think that obviously in such a polarized society, with strong rhetoric, it can happen (that there are other attacks)”.
More aggressive speech
Although Donald Trump appears more direct, both analysts agree that the Democratic Party’s discourse can be described as more provocative.
“I don’t see that Trump has said anything that could accuse him of inciting and heating things up. The rhetoric of Harris, Biden and almost all the left-wing commentators on television accuse Trump of being a Hitler, so it seems to me that the danger lies in that rhetoric,” Rodríguez continues. “Mr. Trump has said, just like the other side says, that these elections determine whether there is a danger to democracy. Definitely both sides say that, I for one think so, that electing Democrats is a danger to democracy. It just so happens that they think that about us too. We are in a situation where both sides believe that we are at a critical moment and if the other side takes office, things will go very badly for the other.”
But Rodriguez points out that Trump has already been in power for four years and democracy has remained intact.
“So when Trump is harassed and he mentions the names and agencies of the people who are harassing him, the other side says, ‘Oh, look, he wants to be a dictator. He’s going to have a list of people that he’s going to harass. ‘ But he was already president and he was not a dictator. He didn’t put Hillary Clinton in jail or accuse her of deleting more than 33,000 emails without anyone’s permission, for having a server computer in her closet at home that she couldn’t have, and he didn’t accuse or imprison all those who invented that trick that he was a Russian agent, an investigation that cost the American people 46 million dollars.”
For Verdugo, calling Donald Trump a Nazi, fascist and stupid – on the part of the Democrats – does not do the country any good, but beyond what the leaders say, he is concerned about other, more precise actions that he considers to be threats towards the former president.
“We saw all of this during the convention, it’s not something I’m making up. Everyone saw it. It was insult after insult. They turn around and say that Trump has to stop, but he hasn’t told these people that they are Nazis, he hasn’t used the word Nazi or racist. Or he has said that they want to destroy democracy, that’s what (Joe) Biden and (Kamala) Harris have said,” says Verdugo before recalling. “But I want to go further than that. There are several examples that Trump and the campaign are not using, which are the most concrete ones. In Central Park, in 2017, there was a play of Julius Caesar, in which Trump was Julius Caesar and they kill him. The American comedy that comes out with Trump’s decapitated head. We see the video of CNN journalists laughing at an event, where Trump had arrived late, laughing and wondering what would happen to Trump if the helicopter fell?
Another debate?
There have been two debates on the road to the presidency, both of which were held in media that analysts say are openly liberal. However, both Rodriguez and Verdugo maintain that a third debate would leave Donald Trump in a good light, but that it has to be held in a conservative media outlet.
“Only if it is on Fox. He already knows that none of the other national networks will be impartial. I think it would be in his interest, because this lady (Harris) is a broken record who always says the same thing and at the same time says nothing, so it would be in his interest, but only if they are on one of the networks that will not represent an ambush for Trump,” explains Rodríguez.
While Verdugo’s analysis, beyond agreeing that there should be a third debate, seeks to find out if Kamala Harris really does what she professes.
“I think there should be another debate. Trump has already had two debates, one with Biden and one with Harris. The first one on CNN, the other on ABC. I think it is time that, if the Democrats want to have a president for everyone, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, whatever you want to call yourself, that she (Harris) agrees and agrees to a debate with Fox, which they have offered to do,” explains the analyst. “That will show the whole world that she is not just throwing words around, that she is practicing what she is preaching. But when they gave her the opportunity on September 4 to do the debate on Fox News, she did not agree and insisted on staying on ABC and that is fine, it was done. Now it is Trump’s turn to insist on another debate and Fox has invited both candidates. And if Kamala does not attend, Trump should go and show an empty chair that she does not want to be present,” he urged.
