American Ultraviolence

Ever since Trump descended the golden escalator, America has entertained and normalized “a bit of the old ultra-violence.”

Ever since Trump descended the golden escalator, America has entertained and tolerated “a bit of the old ultra-violence.” 

Tragically, it visited Butler, Pennsylvania at a Trump rally on Saturday where a 20-year-old shooter identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks injured the former President, killed a rally attendee and critically injured two others in a failed assassination attempt. Trump was treated at a local hospital after the bullet grazed his ear, and he is reportedly fine. 

We are told to never politicize shooting events, but that didn’t stop Republicans, such as Rep. Lauren Boebert, from blaming President Biden for the shooting. The human amoeba known as Scott Jennings went on CNN to blame Democrats for the attack before any evidence was released. As usual, there was no pushback. Vice President hopeful J.D. Vance tweeted recklessly that the Biden campaign’s rhetoric led to the failed assassination attempt. 

Meanwhile, in reality, the shooter was a registered Republican. Moreover, President Biden, along with Democratic leaders such as Barack Obama, Rep. Pelosi, and AOC, all responded like sober, responsible, and sane leaders. They all condemned the violence and tried to cool the temperature. President Biden even called Trump to check up on him. He didn’t mention “very fine people” on both sides or tell violent extremists to “stand back and stand by.” 

One would assume this would be a wonderful opportunity for a bipartisan call to ban assault rifles and advocate sensible gun control. But, this is the United States of America, where there are more guns than people. This is an absurd country which has had more mass shootings than days that have passed in the year 2024. Guns are now the number one killer of children and teens. This inanimate object has more protections than women, who are a majority of the human population. 

The GOP, in particular, is obsessed with guns. They are even allowing guns in the outer perimeter of the upcoming RNC in Milwaukee. The right to bear arms apparently means you can have access to semi-automatic assault rifles, such as an AR-15, the weapon that was found on the shooter. One would hope this tragic event would allow them to pause and reflect, but I sincerely doubt it.

Ideally, I hope Trump could emerge from this tragedy and take ownership of his violent rhetoric, belligerence, and voracious appetite for the “ultraviolence.” Maybe he can see how Democrats and world leaders, like President Zelensky of Ukraine, responded with empathy and decency. I hope this would inspire him to apologize to Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, who survived an assassination attempt. MAGA responded by spreading baseless conspiracy theories. Trump joined in the fun. He mocked Paul Pelosi and joked about it relentlessly.

Trump seems to love violence, especially when it’s unleashed against his enemies. He praised GOP Rep. Gianforte for body slamming a reporter. He encouraged his cult members to “knock the crap” out of protestors, even promising to pay their bail. His followers have engaged in stochastic terrorism against all of his critics, which includes reporters, poll workers, teachers, elected officials, doctors, and law enforcement. They even responded to his call for a violent insurrection on January 6th. Some arrived in Washington D.C. with the intention of assassinating Nancy Pelosi. Others wanted to hang his VP Mike Pence, which Trump encouraged. (Friends and relatives of J.D. Vance might ask him to reconsider his audition to be Trump’s VP in 2024.) 

Trump has repeatedly referred to the violent insurrectionists as “hostages” and promised to pardon them, just like he pardoned killer Eddie Gallagher. His Navy Seal colleagues described him as “freaking evil.” Two weeks ago, Trump posted about having televised military tribunals for Liz Cheney. The president of the Heritage Foundation, responsible for Trump’s Project 2025, recently warned we are in the process of a second revolution and it’ll be “bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

This is now the new normal for Trump and MAGA. Republican officials are rarely asked to condemn these violent acts or threats. There is no “both sides” here. They aren’t like us, the majority, who don’t support violent insurrections when Democratic candidates lose elections or refer to the press as “the enemy of the people” or promote QAnon conspiracies and the anti-semitic replacement theory that radicalize people to commit terrorism. As such, any attempt of corporate media to gaslight Americans should be immediately shut down.

Also, I hope Democrats, who are notoriously spineless, don’t cave to bad faith attacks and MAGA projection. You can condemn political violence and de-escalate the situation, while also reminding America and the world that Trump said he’d be “dictator for a day,” and Project 2025 is an extremist blueprint to install authoritarian rule. 

My fear is that this failed assassination attempt will only further fuel and escalate chaos and terror ahead of the election. I hope for our country’s sake I am wrong, but then again, this is America, and it has now normalized and mainstreamed “a bit of the old ultraviolence.”