So what do we want to do about it?
Avoiding inflammatory rhetoric and physical intimidation, ending the proliferation of guns, electing officials who value common ground rather than division, and strengthening our democracy and public safety are all starts. Call me old-fashioned, but I hope most of us don’t want to fall victim to the cycle of violence, and I hope that we will ultimately reject the electoral dynamics that worship this behavior.
One public figure who could set an example by choosing to move away from violence and division is Trump himself, but the challenge he faces is that he has spent much of the past nine years deploying violent rhetoric as one of the glues that holds his coalition together.
So, yes, in the wake of the Trump shooting, there has been a lot of well-intentioned but empty talk about how “both sides” are dangerously toying with incendiary political rhetoric. The argument is that both Democrats and Republicans are doing it, and that if they would just stop, the country might reach the Promised Land. This is a convenient narrative. But it’s also not true.
No Democratic leader of Trump’s stature and influence has ever come close to playing with fire in the way that he has. None.
Trump incited the riot that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Shortly after descending the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 to announce his first presidential election, he began calling for violence and mayhem that have become a hallmark of his rallies, speeches, social media posts and the work of his presidency.
