Should the assassin succeed on July 13, it would be the day of outbreak of another civil war in the United States. Now people are saying – it was “divine intervention” that has saved Trump from becoming a political martyr, as the bullet missed just one millimeter from the target. Following this incident, Trump posted on Truth Social that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening” and that he would “fear not”. While talking to the Washington Examiner, he again invoked “God” for his deliverance. “This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together”, he said.
Meanwhile, the photograph of Trump holding fist in the air, blood streaming across his face as the agents surrounded him, has already become the iconic image of the 2024 election. This failed assassination bid seems to have not only destroyed Joe Biden’s reelection ambition, it also has totally devastated hope for any of the candidates from Democratic Party in winning November 5 elections. At this state, while a large number of heavyweight figures, including Elon Musk have already declared their support for Trump, social media giant Meta (former Facebook) has dramatically lifted a ban on him, possibly sensing – it won’t be wise to continue a ban on the next president of the country.
There already are plenty of conspiracy theories circulating the US media centering the failed assassination bid. For example, Matt Wallace shared a video link on ‘X’ claiming “Trump shooting was an inside job”. In another post, Wallace stated, “The CIA is behind this I am about to expose everything. Pray for Donald Trump”. Earlier, a large number of social media users published posts stating, hours before the assassination attempt, Joe Biden told donors on a private call, “It’s time to put Trump in bullseye”.
American media personality Adelle Nazarian in a post on ‘X’ even tried to accuse the US Congress Homeland Security Committee for its attempt to strip Trump of his Secret Service protection. In April 2024, Democrats introduced HR-8081 in the US Congress to deny infinite security and government resources allocated towards any convicted former president, which clearly was aimed at Trump.
Following the assassination attempt, several members of the US Secret Service (USS) told the media, although they had repeatedly requested to increase number of USS members to protect Trump, authorities concerned did not pay any attention to such requests.
Elon Musk and former Trump White House official Garrett Ziegler called on July 13 for the immediate resignation of USS Director Kim Cheatle.
Musk in his post stated, “Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate. Either way, the SS leadership must resign”.
Meanwhile, two witnesses at the rally each reported seeing a man with a rifle crawling on top of the roof of a building near the campaign rally stage and warned law enforcement officials.
As reported to the BBC, an eyewitness outside the event spotted the man “bear crawling” across the roof, carrying a rifle. He alerted law enforcement and was surprised that Trump continued to speak.
In an analysis on Substack, Steve Cortes wrote, the event of July 13, 2024 in Bethel, Pennsylvania “will surely motivate a visceral rally” towards former President Donald Trump. “After all, elections are as much about emotion and inspiration as they are about policies and issues”.
Cortes further noted:
But it is the searing vision of Trump the fighter, bloodied but defiant, that will ultimately define this election season, and perhaps even the lasting historical legacy of Donald John Trump, our former and future president.
The failed assassination attempt represents the despicable culmination (for now) of a years-long pattern of undeserved abuse directed at Donald J. Trump. Why has he been subjected to such inordinate mistreatment? In reality, Trump’s ‘crime’ has merely been opposing the ongoing oppression of regular Americans by a polluted power structure in America.
That rigged system has been constructed by the most powerful interests in America, including Big Tech, the Intelligence Community, Corporate Media, and DC Think Tanks. They all revile Trump personally and, more importantly, correctly fear the power of the popular movement he leads.
If we look into Joe Biden’s own words from his “red sermon” address in Philadelphia in 2022: Biden shrieked that “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic”.
Biden’s supporters also posted this social media attack upon the masses of regular Americans: “MAGA Republicans have made their choice: to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division”.
Kamala Harris told MSNBC that Trump is “rightly” compared to Adolf Hitler.
On June 28, 2024, in a post on ‘X’, Joe Biden stated, “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for”.
Trump’s imminent presidency from January 2025 shall bring extreme bad news for two particular parties – Volodymyr Zelensky and Hamas, as Trump will exert tremendous pressure on Zelensky in reaching a quick settlement of the dispute with Vladimir Putin. On the other hand – instead of sitting for negotiations with Hamas, Donald Trump will deploy American drones to hunt top honchos of Hamas, including Ismail Haniyeh and others, irrespective of where they hide – be it in Qatar, Turkey or elsewhere – similarly in the pattern of terminating Iranian top-military personal Qasem Soleimani. In my opinion, Trump will be extremely ruthless on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Meanwhile, commenting on a July 13 assassination attempt, Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell in an article in The Conservative stated:
What we’ve seen in the last 17 years, basically since 2008 and the rise of the Tea Party movement, is that there’s increasing polarization in the US. And the worst part of this polarization is that the American political system became dysfunctional in the sense that we are forcing out any politicians and policymakers who are interested in collaboration with the other side. That’s one thing. Second, people delegitimize leaders who are willing to collaborate with the other side, hence presenting them as individuals who betrayed their values and political party.
The third part is that people are delegitimizing their political rivals. They transform a political disagreement into a war in which there is no space for working together to address the challenges they agree are facing the nation.
When you combine those three dynamics, you create basically a dysfunctional system where both sides are convinced that it’s a zero-sum game, that it’s the end of the country. It’s the end of democracy if the other side wins.
Considering this, it is reasonable to say – if Trump wins November 5 elections, Democrats may not accept the result and wait for four years to have their own candidate in White House. And it is not unrealistic to say – a large number of Democratic Party bigwigs may give instigation to their supporters – directly and indirectly, in stopping Trump from taking oath. In such a case – the only fate that awaits the US is a civil war, where over 450 million weapons may come out of the American households.
