Tragically, political violence is in America's DNA

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To begin, I join the voices of countless political leaders and concerned citizens around the world in condemning the attempt on former President Donald Trump's life yesterday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

President Trump grimaces in pain as Secret Service agents shield him from fire yesterday in Pennsylvania…

As we wait to learn more from the investigation into Thomas Matthew Crooks, the now deceased 20 year old Bethel Park, Pennsylvania man who the FBI has identified as the shooter, it is critically important that those among us with even the slightest bit of rationality, decency, and common sense remember that political violence, historically and presently, ALWAYS has the potential of begetting more political violence and because of that, be mindful in the days ahead!

To that end, being mindful means that we all must recognize that yesterday's assassination attempt was merely the froth on the hot cauldron, as the high intensity boil that produced it stems from the heated political discourse on display in traditional media comments sections, on social media, and on political talk shows and podcasts that has reached a point not seen in American politics since the 1960's—back when no political or social leaders, from the Kennedy brothers to Medgar (Evers), Malcolm (X), and Martin (King)—were safe from being felled by an assassin's bullet!

Lest we forget that four American presidents (clockwise), Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy, were assassinated while in office. Donald Trump now joins Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan as presidents who survived assassination attempts…

So, those of us who now are in the late summer, autumn, and winter of our years remember the last time an American president was almost assassinated, which was back in 1981 when John Hinckley squeezed off rounds at President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C.  I was in third grade at the time and had just gotten home from school when my mother, settling into her after school daily routine of watching The Guiding Light on CBS before starting dinner and grading her students’ papers, called out to me to come and watch Walter Cronkite's "Special Report" interruption that the president had been shot. 

Photo snapped in the immediate seconds after President Reagan was shot in 1981

Ironically, I was rewatching the latest episode of "House of the Dragon" on HBO yesterday when my mother called me and told me to "turn to the news because someone tried to shoot Donald Trump;" I did as instructed and like many people around the globe, spent the next several hours watching the footage on endless loop while listening intently to all of the eyewitnesses and law enforcement experts who described in harrowing detail yesterday's tragic events. 

Photo snapped moments after former President Trump was shot yesterday evening…

And make no mistake about it, yesterday's assassination attempt was a tragedy, as one innocent rally goer was shot dead in front of multiple members of his family, a second rally goer also suffered serious injuries after being hit, and the intended target, former President Trump, suffered injuries to his ear—wounds that have been alternately reported as a bullet graze or shrapnel from the shattered teleprompter in the 12 plus hours since. 

While Secret Service agents immediately rushed to shield Trump, the MAJOR question in the weeks ahead is how did the Secret Service allow an assassin within striking distance of the president in the first place?

Yes, I, have read numerous comments from social media friends who watched the same endless footage and concluded that yesterday's shooting was "staged" by Trump in order to gain sympathy and the electoral advantage heading into this week's Republican Convention. I would be lying if I didn't admit that such were my initial suspicions, that was until I saw the video and the high resolution photograph below that was snapped by NY Times photographer Doug Mills, one that at least one FBI analyst has concluded shows an AR-15 bullet whizzing by Trump's head!

As my readers well know, I have been adamantly opposed to Donald Trump's politics and personality for many decades, but even in my disdain for the man, I do not believe that he would authorize AR-15 projectiles to be a fraction of an inch away from shattering his head and killing him in plain view!

And yet, as I watched the video on multiple loops last night and again this morning, I couldn't help but ask myself: "has Mr. Trump learned anything at all from his brush with death?"

When I heard Trump demanding that his Secret Service detail "let him up" to "get his shoes," before pumping his fists in the air like a pro wrestler and yelling "FIGHT"—only seconds after he barely survived an assassination attempt that killed one of his supporters instantly—and left another grievously injured—I couldn't help but conclude that “no, Trump still doesn't get ‘it’." 

"It" is the fact that Trump’s very own rhetoric at these MAGA rallies since 2015, which often include calls for violence against the media, the left, and immigrants, has begotten more violence in true “chickens coming home to roost” fashion? I mean, did Trump even stop last night and listen to the sincere concerns about his well being from liberal journalists who don't share his politics, like CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper?

Did Trump take to his own social media pages to thank his presidential colleagues, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for their well wishes and statements condemning yesterday's assassination attempt—or the well wishes from former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the same woman whose husband, Paul Pelosi, he mocked at a MAGA rally last year after the elder Pelosi was beaten up during a home invasion robbery? Of course, Trump offered no such appreciation for his political rivals’ well wishes!

Did Trump stop to acknowledge last night that it wasn't a Mexican or Muslim immigrant that tried to "unalive" him, but a young white American male who, like countless other young white American males this century who have shot up schools, churches, synagogues, grocery stores, movie theaters, malls, and concerts, very likely had a sick affinity for automatic weapons—and a twisted interpretation of the Second Amendment?

No, Trump did none of the above things and very likely will not, because politics to him is a zero sum game, one in which yesterday's assassination attempt provides more ammunition in his own arsenal to fire off grievances at his political and ideological foes! Indeed, Trump will play the “almost” martyr, and his staunchest supporters will continue to blaspheme and place him on literal and figurative crosses as if he is their personal Lord and Savior!

Trump instinctively posed for the photo op after bullets narrowly missed him yesterday…

To conclude, I abandoned ALL hope that Trump, 78, would mature and grow into a statesman many years ago, so I won't hold my breath expecting magnanimous things that he simply is ill qualified to do.

But what I do hope, with all sincerity, is that the rest of us see that there are some among us who take ideological calls to arms quite literally, whether it is right wing calls to "own the Libs," or left wing calls to "stop the neo-Fascists/Confederates," and are willing to commit vile and violent acts in furtherance of their beliefs! Again, I believe such folks to be in the minority, but a minority can create enough chaos to strike discordant chords that place the lives and livelihoods of everyone at stake, including a once and would be President of the United States. Such is why it is important that, even when we disagree on this, that, or the third politically, that we redouble or efforts to do so without vitriol or choosing violence!