Assassination Attempt Means Four More Years of Trump…Unless We Fight

Late Saturday night, ABC News’s Rachel Scott lingered at the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, using as background for her live TV shot the now-empty grandstand and the stage where Donald Trump nearly lost his life. A spotlight still lit the large American flag suspended over the stage. 

“The flag behind me,” she told anchor David Muir, “reminds me that there is more that unites us than divides us.” 

That most American of clichés, largely empty even during the best of times, has never been more untrue than today. It’s as untrue as what President Joe Biden told us in March: “[T]he state of our Union is strong and getting stronger!”

Ludicrous. Clearly, we are at war. We’ve been at war at least as far back as January 6, 2021, when Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy culminated in his acolytes literally storming the gates. And while there has not been a second attempt to violently overthrow our political system, it has been under relentless attack ever since by Trump loyalists at all levels of government, who have been willing to say and do whatever it takes, no matter how craven, to keep both themselves in power and their constituency complicit in undermining the stability of the homeland they claim to love so much.

On Sunday, Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office, calling on us to “lower the temperature in our politics.” But that’s never going to happen. MAGAworld lives for this shit. And say what you will about Donald Trump’s intelligence (or lack thereof), but there’s no denying his canniness concerning not only which way the wind blows for the dregs of democracy, but for generating that wind. And he knows his cue when he hears it whiz by his ear. “Fight!” he urged his supporters as he was rushed offstage, fist pumping as blood trickled down his cheek. “Fight! Fight!”

Fight what? Fight the thieves who stole the 2020 election. Fight Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice. Fight the immigrant horde. Fight (to use the umbrella term that Republicans are using all over social media) the evil, which means anyone or anything that does fall in line with their fascist fantasies.

So this is not just a war, but a holy war. And when it’s good versus evil, the ends justify the means. That’s why Republicans tried to subvert the 2020 presidential election, and that’s what enables them to make the worst of unfounded accusations, no matter how dangerous or inflammatory, such as this little tidbit from Marjorie Taylor Green on Sunday: “The Democrats are the party of pedophiles […] and yesterday they tried to murder President Trump.” 

You may not love or even like the Democratic Party. You may think Biden should step aside. You may feel the whole system is deeply corrupt. But don’t be blinded by your disaffection. There is no moral equivalency between today’s Democratic and Republican Parties, and our country is far worse off in the hands of the latter.

“[R]emember,” Biden urged the nation Sunday, “while we may disagree, we are not enemies.” But not even the president of the United States gets to decide such things. Sometimes your enemies choose you, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it — except defend yourself when they attack.

Fortunately, there are nonviolent means at our disposal to combat what’s coming. Trump supporters will rally behind the attempted assassination of their führer. Voter turnout will go through the roof. If those of us horrified by the prospect of another four years of President Trump don’t rise up to meet the challenge, Project 2025 gives us a pretty good sense of where we’re headed.

We are at war, and this is a call to arms. Vote. Volunteer. Donate. Phone-bank. Spread the word on social media. Because they’re coming for our country. Do we just let them take it, or do we fight?