Attack on Trump could spark further US political violence

IN a country already on edge, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has enraged his supporters, paused the Democratic campaign and raised fears of further political violence in the run-up to November’s election.

Mr Trump’s Republican allies painted him as a hero on Saturday (Sunday NZ time), seizing on the image of him with his ear bloodied and Ɲst raised, appearing to mouth the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Whereas Mr Trump has regularly used violent language with his followers, advisers and allies of the former president ƞipped the script on his Democratic opponent President Joe Biden, saying it was the demonisation of the Republican presidential candidate that led to the assassination attempt.

“Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” US Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, a top candidate to be Mr Trump’s running mate, said on X.

Mr Biden moved quickly to try to defuse the situation, denouncing the attack as unacceptable political violence and pulling election ads attacking Mr Trump.

“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” Mr Biden told reporters.

The motivation of the shooter is not yet known. The suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was a registered Republican, according to state voter records. He previously made a $15 donation to a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians.

In the short term, the attack will likely boost Mr Trump’s appearances in Milwaukee this week at the Republican National Convention as he accepts his party’s presidential nomination, forti