Confusion and suspicion reign
Just over two months ago – on July 13 – the United States was shaken by an attempt on the life of Donald Trump. The former president (and current candidate) came a hair’s breadth from being killed on live television. The image of him, with bloodied face, raising his fist and shouting “Fight! Fight!” to supporters was a great boon to his campaign, inspiring rage and determination in his camp, impressing many of the undecided.
Last week’s debate between Trump and Harris reinforced the feeling that Trump is struggling against a younger, sharper, and well-rehearsed opponent.
A couple of weeks earlier, in their televised debate, on June 27, President Joe Biden had come across as old and dazed. Everything suggested that nothing would hinder Trump’s march to the White House. But eight days after the attempted assassination, Biden pulled out of the race and threw his support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris, against Trump. In other words, in the high political drama of the presidential election, the attack on Trump in Pennsylvania became a decisive event. First, it benefited Trump. Then, when Biden pulled out and Democratic Party supporters met Harris’ candidacy with great enthusiasm, this dynamic was overturned. Last week’s debate between Trump and Harris reinforced the feeling that Trump is struggling against a younger, sharper, and well-rehearsed opponent. His increasingly aggressive rhetoric against immigrants and political rivals shows that, lacking convincing arguments against Harris, he is playing on the sentiments of friend and foe.
In this light, it is difficult to comprehend the motives of the latest assassination attempt against Trump. The former president’s Secret Service agents spotted a suspect with a rifle near the spot where Trump was playing golf on one of his courses in Florida, on Sunday. They fired at the suspect, he ran off and was arrested in his car a while later. Among the few things we learned in the following hours are that the white, 58-year-old man is a strong supporter of Ukraine, and a “super patriot” with a criminal record. He appears to have supported Republicans (including Trump) and Democrats. A complicated first look.
As we await more information, we can only speculate that if the attacker did kill Trump, the general condemnation would be such that this would make further support for Ukraine very difficult on the US political scene. If he failed (which he did), this would benefit Trump and his campaign, again to the possible detriment of Ukraine. For those who claim that the Democrats want Trump dead, the best reply would be that, with his words and deeds, Trump is the best possible argument for voting Harris. Those who believe that the whole story was staged to help Trump must work around the fact that it is Trump’s side which revels in such theories far more than that of his rivals.
The essence of the story is that few will believe the official account. And the battle for the presidency will be neck-and-neck to the end.
