The shocking and horrific assassination attempt on former US President and current Republican front-runner Donald Trump is abhorrent in every respect. It is a reminder that there are clear and necessary limits to the ways in which change can be brought about. It is a sad but harsh reminder that democracies, including Israel and the United States, cannot violate certain fundamental principles without undermining their identity.
The Secret Service confirmed that the shooter had been neutralised. The FBI later confirmed his identity as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. State voting records show Crooks was a Republican. One rally attendee was killed and two others were seriously injured. A source told Reuters the Secret Service had opened an investigation into the shooting as an assassination attempt.
The lives of political leaders should never be taken because it is inhuman, wrong, immoral, illegal and contrary to every natural value of human life.
Political leaders position themselves as proponents of political ideologies and positions and may appear to be synonymous with those ideologies in the eyes of the general public, but they themselves are separate and are never legitimate targets for harm.
Impact of the attempted shooting
This event could affect the presidential election in a number of ways. It could have a “martyrdom” effect, boosting Trump’s support and further solidifying the ideology he represents. Moreover, it could demonize and undermine ideologies that oppose Trump and his leadership. Or, if handled appropriately, it could avert such a crisis.
Hours after the attack, US President Joe Biden said in a televised address that the former president was in good spirits and called for an end to the political violence. “There is no place for this kind of violence in America. This is terrible,” Biden said, adding that he had been thoroughly briefed on the incident and would discuss it with Trump. “Everyone must condemn this.”
“Political violence in any form has no place in our societies,” said newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting a “tragedy for our democracy.” At the same time, Argentine President Javier Milley said the shots were “not only an attack on our democracy, but also on the people who defend and live in the free world.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz added that “such violent acts are a threat to democracy.”
As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and no means, no matter how honorable, can justify the ends. Absolutely. Assassination attempts are an extreme example of this. The people who carry out these acts and the ideas behind them are divorced from the very ideals they are trying to defend. People cannot commit undemocratic acts to defend democracy; it would undermine the very institutions they are trying to defend, completely losing their legitimacy and putting them in a position to lose part of the identity they used to carry out the acts in the first place.
Democracy is founded on certain ideals and rights. When these rights are violated, destroyed or desecrated, the essence of democracy is undermined and undermined. You cannot violate people’s rights and call yourself a democrat.
Modern democracies are designed with internal brakes and checks on power to ensure that the system cannot be undermined, regardless of what the people want or want. The United States is no exception, and it will remain a thriving democracy regardless of who wins the November election, and for many years to come.
If change is to come, it can only come legitimately through acts operating within the system – your voice and your vote. As Benjamin Disraeli wrote in 1865 after the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln, political assassinations may “have a marked effect on history” but they never lead to the improvement of conditions.
