On Saturday, while driving to a friend’s house, I learned that Donald Trump had been shot in the ear and had narrowly escaped death by turning his head.
When I arrived, the news had already begun and over the next few hours I learned that while the former president was safe, one person in the crowd had tragically died in the attack and two more were in critical condition.
I wish I could say I was surprised when I heard the news, but I really wasn’t.
Saturday was the darkest day in American politics that I can remember, but at 22 years old, I’ve seen too much anger and violence as a result of political tensions — as has my entire generation.
Gen Z, spanning from 1997 to 2012, is participating in politics during tumultuous times, and no event has highlighted this more than the assassination attempt on President Trump.
The assassination attempt on President Trump is the latest act of violence in US politics
Watching America’s political leaders, the so-called “adults in the room,” rapidly escalate tensions in the country is infuriating for us young voters who are disillusioned with what’s really going on in the first place. Instead of calming tensions to interest most people my age, the powers that be are only making the atmosphere worse, setting us up for chaos for the next few years.
The escalating rhetoric on both sides is shaping a repeat of an assassination attempt from the 1960s. While the perpetrator’s motive remains unclear, this is just one example of a growing trend of violence targeting public officials.
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From the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022, to the attack on Paul Pelosi in 2022 that began with a failed kidnapping plot against his wife, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to the current shooting at a Trump rally, attacks on public officials are becoming commonplace in this country. Civilized countries must do more.
Democrats have pushed the move by arguing that a second term for Trump would make him a dictator. Republicans have done the same since 2020, claiming the election was stolen. Saturday’s events should serve as a warning to both parties to ease tensions.
In addition to the assassination attempt, there are several other examples of political violence that have followed a similar escalation cycle, including the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots.
All of this is not just a warning for the future. These actions have already led to the deaths of innocent people. A former president was shot while campaigning for reelection. I sincerely hope that this tragedy will serve as a wake-up call for politicians to speak out and that their voices matter.
And I hope that voters of my generation will lead the change we need.
Gen Z needs to be part of the solution
Our generation, lacking lived experience, is particularly vulnerable to growing tensions between the political parties.
Estimates suggest that, along with millennials, we will make up the majority of the voting population by 2028. The extreme nature of the political climate we face will have a major impact on our voting patterns in the future.
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Americans recognize that the country has become too divided, and they agree that politicians should avoid “heated or aggressive” language.
In an effort to secure our votes, politicians who Gen Z is disillusioned with are adding fuel to the political fires to our dismay. We are entering the voting world at a time when political tensions are at their peak, and violence is becoming a tragic but commonplace aspect of our political calculus.
Young voters must be part of the solution. We inherited an absurdly polarized political environment, but we would be wise not to contribute any more to it. Instead, we must lower the stakes in political debate and stop making a catastrophe out of every political event.
It pains me to think about the current state of our country and I fear it will only get worse. I can only hope that Saturday’s tragedy serves as a fresh opportunity for politicians to learn that their words affect their actions, and for Gen Z to understand the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Dais Potas is an opinion columnist for USA Today and holds a degree in political science from DePaul University.
