PPoliticians are in shock over the near-assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
As Trump was addressing the crowd, a series of loud bangs rang out in the air and video footage showed him crouching on the ground with his hand reaching for his right ear before he was draped and surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Trump, 78, was rushed into an SUV and taken to hospital, but before leaving he pumped his fist into the crowd, who chanted “USA, USA, USA.” Blood could be seen streaming from the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s ears and down his face.
What we know so far about the Trump rally shooting
The former president, who is now safe, has spoken out about the incident on social media and issued a public plea after the shooting.
The deadly shooter was identified by the FBI on Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
It is considered the most serious assassination attempt on a president or presidential candidate since the shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981. Many prominent politicians from all political stripes, both domestic and international, have spoken out and condemned the use of political violence.
The shooting at the Trump rally comes amid growing concern about a rise in political violence in the US in recent years.
In October 2021, Rachel Kleinfeld Democracy Journal An “unprecedented number” of election officials were threatened in 2020, and “acts of political violence in the United States have skyrocketed over the past five years,” the report said, drawing on data from the Global Terrorism Database maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Counterterrorism at the University of Maryland.
read more: How the threat of political violence is changing America
“Ideas that were once confined to minority groups are now appearing in mainstream media,” Kleinfeld said. “This shift has created a new reality in which millions of Americans commit, support or condone political violence.”
Here we look back at examples of political violence in recent U.S. history.
The 2011 shooting of then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords
Former U.S. Representative from Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, is a victim of gun violence: in 2011, she was shot in the head during an assassination attempt in Tucson.
The gunman shot Giffords and 18 others, killing six of them, in a grocery store parking lot where Giffords was holding an informal social gathering with constituents from her district. Among those killed was Giffords’ aide, Gabe Zimmerman, making him the only member of Congress to be killed in the line of duty.
The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, was sentenced to multiple life sentences.
Since the assassination attempt, Giffords, now 54, has become a vocal gun control advocate and founded her own advocacy group called Giffords.
“I’m Gabby Giffords and I’m from Tucson, Arizona. January 8, 2011, changed my life forever. I was a member of Congress and I was shot in the head while meeting with my constituents,” Giffords said during a roundtable of current and former members of Congress in 2023. “After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I said, ‘I can’t stand this.’ Stop messing around“I founded an organization called Giffords, and we’re now on a mission to end gun violence.”
read more: ‘No more guns. They’re gone’: Why Gabby Giffords won’t give up
Steve Scalise was shot during a congressional baseball game practice in 2017.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) was shot in June 2017 during a shooting that targeted members of the House Republican baseball team at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia.
Five victims were taken to the hospital, and two members of Scalise’s Capitol Police sergeant-at-arms were also injured in the shootout with the gunman.
The bullet entered Scalise’s left hip, damaging organs and breaking bones as it traveled through his body, and he was in a coma for three days.
The gunman, Illinois resident James Hodgkinson, a known critic of President Trump, died from a gunshot wound he suffered in a shootout with police.
Gretchen Whitmer targeted in thwarted kidnapping plot in 2020
In October 2020, federal and state authorities made highly publicized uncovering of an elaborate plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, which led to the arrest of 13 people with ties to a local right-wing militia group known as the Wolverine Watchmen.
According to the Department of Justice, the FBI became aware of the group’s suspicious activity through social media and disrupted the plot through “confidential sources, undercover agents, and secret recordings.” They undercover conducted surveillance of the Governor’s home by Wolverine Watchmen and detonated an explosive device they had made.
“We are seeing a disturbing increase in anti-government rhetoric and the re-emergence of groups espousing extremist ideologies,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told reporters at the time. “These groups often seek to recruit new members to seize on civil unrest to advance their own agenda of self-reliance and armed resistance. This is more than just political disagreement or passionate advocacy. These groups’ mission is simply to sow chaos and cause harm to others.”
This occurred ahead of the 2020 election between then-President Trump and Joe Biden. In October of that year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a “Homeland Threat Assessment,” calling far-right extremists the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland outside of hostile nation states, and warning that militia groups “may target events related to the 2020 presidential election campaign, the election itself, the election results, or the post-election period.”
read more: ‘The perfect storm’: Michigan conspiracy exposes the dangers of ignoring the far-right threat
The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021
Perhaps the most notable act of political violence in the United States in the past decade was the attack on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building to protest the certification of President Biden.
Many of the rioters had attended a “Stop the Steal” rally featuring Trump. Some were armed with metal flagpoles, baseball bats, pepper spray and stun guns. Some eventually smashed windows to break into the Capitol, roaming hallways and ransacking offices.
A bipartisan Senate report stated that the January 6 attack left at least seven people dead and at least 140 injured. In January 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced that “more than 1,265 defendants have been indicted in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
read more:What the history of the word “insurrection” tells us about January 6th
Trump was indicted in August 2023 on a felony charge of inciting the January 6th riot.
Assault on Representative Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi
In October 2022, Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was attacked with a hammer in his San Francisco home. He underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured skull and severe injuries to his right arm and hand.
According to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Stephanie Miner, the assailant, David DePape, then 42, entered the Pelosi residence with the intention of “restraining and injuring” Nancy. The affidavit also states that at the time of his arrest, DePape was in possession of a hammer, a roll of tape, white rope, a pair of rubber and cloth gloves, and zip ties. Nancy was in Washington, DC at the time of the attack.
DePape was convicted of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and assaulting a family member of a federal officer and sentenced to 30 years in prison in May.
Following the attack on former President Trump on Saturday, Nancy is X (formerly Twitter) condemned the violence.
“As someone whose family has been a victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” she said. “I thank God that former President Trump is safe, and as more details emerge about this horrific incident, let us pray that everyone who attended the former president’s rally today is safe.”
