Donald Trump

The second suspected assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida on Sunday raises questions as to where American public life is going. The Secret Service has been able to detect the gun and fired at the target, but the man fled in a car. He was later arrested and he has been identified as Ryan Routh, supposedly a staunch supporter of Ukraine according to his social media profile. Routh is a declared felon. He is 58.

The first attempt on Trump’s life was at Butler, Pennsylvania in July, and the teenager was shot dead after he fired shots at Trump at his rally. One of the bullets grazed past Trump’s ear, another killed a Trump supporter and injured a Secret Service person. A House of Representatives inquiry was on into the failure of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the serious security lapse.

Fox News quoted Trump as saying, “Their (President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris) rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from inside and out.” Trump was attributing the assassination attempt because of the “inflammatory language” used by Biden and Harris. Both the Democratic leaders have described Trump as a threat to American democracy.

Routh, the suspected assassin, is known as an ardent supporter of Ukraine, and a man who was trying to recruit volunteers to fight for Ukraine. He was interviewed by The New York Times as one of the Americans who were to trying to organise fighters for Ukraine. It is to be logically inferred that as Trump has expressed reservations about the unqualified American support for Ukraine, he could have become the target of Routh. But this is only speculation at the moment because the facts have to be established in a court of law.

There is also irony in the fact that Routh, an apparent supporter of democracy and freedom, and hence his wish to fight for Ukraine, is seen to be championing a liberal cause, while Trump and his supporters have painted themselves unabashedly as right-wingers who did not much care for democracy or freedom. Trump’s campaign note is on Making America Great Again (MAGA). So the apparent supporter of democracy reaching out to the gun makes it bizarre.

There has been right-wing violence in America for a long time now. But the Routh profile changes the rhetorical tone of the democracy debate. It puts Biden and Harris on the wrong foot. Biden said that thank God, Trump escaped, while Harris intoned that there is no room for violence in America.

Perhaps a stronger message has to go that liberals in America oppose Trump and his policies tooth and nail, but they mean to defeat him at the election. Trump has denied that he has used inflammatory language himself, but he did say that he would throw out all the Haitian immigrants out of Ohio once he is elected. Trump’s tone is certainly belligerent.

What should be a matter of concern for lovers of democracy across the world is the puerile pugilism at play in the American presidential elections. Trump has been more belligerent though he has been backing down a bit. The two assassination attempts on Trump  send out the negative message that American democracy is getting to be dysfunctional, where arguments are settled through assassination bids. America ceases to be the land of liberty which has inspired democrats all over the world. It is time perhaps for Americans to introspect about the quality of their democracy, and as to why some of its citizens are only too ready to resort to violence.