If images of hundreds of rioters attacking the US Capitol, the seat of American democracy, on January 6, 2021 — which appeared to instigated by former US President Donald Trump following his defeat in the 2020 elections — were symptomatic of the polarisation and turbulence seeping across the country, then the history-making image of Trump with a bloodied ear, pumping his fist and defiant after surviving an audacious assassination attempt defines the hydra-headed challenges staring America and Americans before the 2024 presidential elections.
Between that cold January morning three years ago and the current moment, the political and social trajectory of America has become deeply concerning. Heated political rhetoric, vitriol, intolerance and violence are entrenched at a time when what America, and the world, need most are unity, tolerance and empathy.
The shocking assassination attempt on Trump by a 20-year-old with an assault rifle also unfortunately highlights a systemic cancer plaguing American society: The ubiquitous gun culture. If a former president of the most powerful nation on earth, a presidential nominee of a major political party — protected by arguably the most superior security apparatus in the world — is not safe from gun violence, what hope is there for common citizens across the country to stay safe? Mere “thoughts and prayers” are not working, have never worked. The bullet has taken numerous innocent lives and if it can breach the impenetrable wall of security that surrounds an American president, what protection do little school children have?
Gun violence and mass shootings in American schools, places of worship, supermarkets, and theatres happen at blood-curdling frequency. There are more guns than people in America. According to The American Public Health Association, “gun violence is a leading cause of premature death in the US. Guns kill more than 48,000 people a year.” Gun violence has claimed over 9,200 lives in 2024 so far, including 132 children, according to estimates by the Gun Violence Archive.
In the hours following the attack on Trump, relatives and friends from India and elsewhere called and messaged me. “What is happening in the US?”; “This assassination attempt will surely change the course of the presidential elections now”; “Something must be done to stop gun violence in America; Even a presidential campaign rally is unsafe now.” The pontifications continued.
One would hope, albeit naively, that the attack on Trump would move the needle in the US in enacting effective gun control legislation, take assault weapons off the market and restrict their access to the general public. Can there be hope that this shocking attack on him will change Trump’s long-held position on gun laws? Trump, however, is unlikely to shift his position on gun rights. He had earlier this year promised the powerful National Rifle Association that “your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president. When I’m back in the Oval Office, no one will lay a finger on your firearms. It’s not going to happen.” The Second Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees and protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms.
Thankfully, President Trump survived the attack and was not more gravely injured. But a 50-year-old bystander, Corey Comperatore, tragically lost his life in the senseless act, others were injured, many more watching the scene unfold before their eyes on the TV sets and mobile devices were left traumatised.
There should be no place for political violence, any kind of violence for that matter, in America and anywhere else in the world. Nor for any language that encourages such violence. Haunting images of assassinations of world leaders — from Mahatma Gandhi to John F Kennedy — carry the burden of history. Such political violence has altered the course of nations’ trajectories. Violence has never and can never be the solution. It only leaves a tsunami of pain, hurt, anger, hatred in its destructive path. The attack will energise Trump’s base, garner people’s sympathy for him and there are conversations that the assassination attempt has changed the course of the presidential election and may have tilted the result in Trump’s favour. All that remains to be seen.
With the momentous US presidential elections less than four months away, it is crucial that leaders from both sides of the aisle call for unity, and tolerance, for the heated political temperatures to cool down, and for the rhetoric to be tamed. In his remarks following the attack on Trump, President Joe Biden asserted there is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence for that matter. “An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen.”
Trump on his part said “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”
I remember that on the eve of the 2020 Presidential election, as I was driving down deserted streets near the Times Square area, I saw shop owners and high-end retailers boarding up their storefronts. There had been instances of looting and vandalism across cities in America in the days and weeks leading up to the elections and there was fear of unrest and violence in the wake of the election’s outcome. I had never imagined things would ever come to such a pass.
Elections are a celebration of democracy, a celebration of the power of an individual to decide her nation’s future through the ballot. Globally, democratic values are in danger. Those in the world’s oldest democracy are also under attack. It is on the people to ensure ballots always remain more powerful than bullets. In this presidential cycle, the stakes could not be higher for Americans to save their democracy, their country. The world is watching.
The writer is a US-based IT and sports professional
