Stop The Hateful Rhetoric
Former President Donald Trump survived an attempted assassination during a rally in Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear before the Secret Service ordered him to duck behind the podium as they rushed the stage to shield him. One person in the crowd was killed, and two more were seriously injured before Secret Service agents neutralized the shooter.
The shooter has been identified as a 20 year old conservative from Pennsylvania who used an AR-15 style weapon legally purchased by his father. Explosives were also found in the shooter’s vehicle. A specific motive for the attack is not yet known, and a review of the Secret Service security protocols for the rally is underway due to the shooter being able to get on a nearby roof to shoot target Trump.
Democratic politicians, including President Biden and former President Obama, came out with statements condemning the shooting, wishing Trump a quick recovery, and stating that violence has no place in American politics.
While most Republicans made similar statements, some members of Congress on the far right spread conspiracy theories that Biden or Democrats were behind the shooting despite there being no evidence to support those claims.
This assassination attempt is a tragic reminder of the heightened political anger happening in our country. In just the last few years, we have had:
An individual threatened Biden online and later shot at and was killed by authorities who showed up at his home to question him.
An individual with an arsenal of guns was arrested near Obama’s house.
The Jan 6 insurrection, which saw one person killed and many cops severely beaten, later led to several suicides.
An attacker broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house and bashed her husband’s head in with a hammer, requiring him to undergo surgery and work through a long recovery.
There is no doubt that the extreme political rhetoric that has been common since the rise of Trump and MAGA is a factor in the increased political violence, particularly the demonizing of democratic opponents, which has, in turn, created an apathetic and, at times, hateful response from voters on the left.
While Democratic politicians came out to condemn the assassination attempt, users on social media were not always as kind. Many who identify as being on the left spread conspiracies on the possibility of it being a staged assassination attempt meant to help Trump in the polls, and others were callous enough to say the shooter needed better aim.
We need to get our nation out of this place where conspiracy theorizing and wishing harm on political adversaries is normalized. Yes, Trump represents a threat to our democracy with his authoritarian wishes and Project 2025, but violence is a threat to our democracy, too.
America was built to be a nation where the people have the power to choose who leads the country and where the justice system treats everyone as innocent until proven guilty by a jury of our peers. Violence is never the answer in politics or justice.
Even if you believe the victim of the violence is the biggest threat to our nation, and even if you are angry about the violence he himself has caused from the lies he has told, you shouldn’t welcome or condone violence.
You should believe in upholding our nation’s foundations and systems above all else. That means defeating Trump at the ballot box and holding him accountable for his crimes in a court of law. Anything less and we are saying it is ok to break the rules whenever it suits us, leading to the end of democracy.
America has been through a lot. A pandemic upended our lives. Our Capitol was attacked. We’ve been continually fearful about migrants crossing the southern border at the same time as global conflicts and international terrorist attacks happened around the world. All the while, global inflation was causing economic uncertainty and family struggles.
But our nation is on the mend. Crime is plummeting, unemployment remains low, wages are growing faster than inflation, prices are coming down, manufacturing and construction are booming, and border crossings have fallen dramatically. Everything is looking up except the one area still holding us back: political rhetoric.
Politicians are saying crime is up when it is down. That inflation is high when it is low. And that the southern border is an “invasion” when crossings are lower than in 2019 when no one was using that term. Even worse is the violent and dehumanizing language aimed at political opponents.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia routinely refers to Democrats as “groomers” and “pedophiles” simply because the left doesn’t hate or discriminate against trans people. Greene also had a campaign ad where she was holding a gun alongside images of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the squad while saying that it was time to go on the “offensive against these socialists.”
Trump himself has used violent rhetoric on numerous occasions, including posting a picture of a pickup truck that had an image of President Biden hogtied on the tailgate. And as we should never forget, Trump’s lies and comments, such as “go to the Capitol and fight like hell,” spurred an insurrectionist attack against Congress.
Trump and MAGA rely on fear-mongering, hatred, and bigotry to keep their base engaged. Their rhetoric has intensified the political rifts in our country, which is why 70% of Republicans and Democrats have a very unfavorable opinion of the other party, and almost 30% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of both parties.
For the good of the nation, the hateful rhetoric needs to end. Politicians need to go back to focusing on the issues and discussing their plans to solve the problems facing America.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/americans-dismal-views-of-the-nations-politics/
Compensation not Cruelty
Republicans are attempting to make a $30 billion cut to the SNAP program within the current Farm Bill. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has been a continual target of Republicans over the last several years, although the current approach is more subtle than usual in response to the strong pushback against past efforts.