Yesterday, July 13, 2024, former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump was shot at during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The shooter, said to be using an AK-style rifle, fired multiple shots from an elevated position outside the rally area.
While the shooter wasn’t able to get a direct hit on Trump, the former president was grazed by a bullet in the upper ear.
The missed bullets flew straight into the crowd, killing one person and putting two others in critical condition.
As soon as the shots occurred, Trump took cover, and once the Secret Service located and killed the shooter, Trump was rushed off stage.
The aftermath saw the rally being suspended, Trump taken to a hospital, and the expected media frenzy that follows such a significant event.
I didn’t really want to write about this because I’m sure you’ve already heard about it.
In fact, you’ve probably already heard about it, read about it, discussed it, and even made up your mind about it.
While it’s true that we know all the what’s—the where, the when, the who—the only question left in my mind is the “why?”
The truth is incidents like this are rare, but it’s far from the first time the United States has seen attempted and successful assignation attempts. From John F. Kennedy to Abraham Lincoln, today’s attack on Trump brings back dark chapters in American history.
The violent attempt highlights just how hyper-tribalized our society has become and how far our society’s banalization of evil has come—to the point where an ordinary individual can commit such an evil act of violence, and not even be the first of its kind in recent history.
But what happens now?
Do we address the elephant in the room?
Do we stop the dehumanization of the “other side”?
Do we blame guns? Do we blame mental illness?
Or do we just retweet the picture of a bloody Trump with his fist up and say he has a “mad aura”?
Whatever we decide to do as a society in the aftermath of this situation is up to us. However, I am here to say that it’s time we see the political rhetoric of our society for what it is.
Our current political polarization has our country so divided along partisan lines that many people truly see this election as an “us vs. them” situation. In reality, the only way our country can move forward is together.
But who is to blame for all of this? Everyone.
Our social medias create echo chambers.
Our leaders often encourage disrespect and discourage open dialogue.
Our culture glorifies prostitutes and murderers.
It’s only with a holistic view of the situation that we will be able to move forward.
How do we expect to foster unity when one of the biggest political chants is “Let’s go Brandon,” which means “Fuck Joe Biden”?
How are we supposed to address the radicalization happening within our society when we often call those who support the other side “stupid” or “dumb”?
How will we promote civil discourse if we never communicate with the other side?
What happened yesterday in Pennsylvania was horrible and evil. But the question remains, when will we do the things necessary to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
The solution lies in our hands.
We must consciously choose to bridge the divide, to foster empathy, and to engage in genuine dialogue.
It’s not about using this as an excuse to “erase our differences” and act like we’re all the same as we tend to do when something like this happens.
It’s about learning to respect our differences and knowing that even though we don’t all think the same, if we just recognize that at the end of the day, right or left, we all want the best for our country, then we can move forward together and make America great.
It’s not just the future of America that depends on it, but the future of humanity itself.
