Last Saturday saw former US President Donald Trump become the target of a failed assassination attempt at his most recent campaign rally. Trump left the event, which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, with having survived an assassination attempt, in which the bullet hit his ear. Secret Service agents confirmed the shooter to have been fatally immobilised on the scene, and the FBI later named the gunman as 20-year-old local Thomas Matthew Crooks. As the news of his identity shocked Pittsburgh, both social media and news outlets erupted in the aftermath of the attempt.
It’s no surprise that the disturbance should cause such a wave; as well as being a purely staggering situation which has resulted in the loss of a life, the incident marks the first assassination attempt since John Hinckley Jr. attempted to take Reagan’s life in 1981. Over the weekend, a distinct image of Trump has become something of an allegory representing the attack: the man himself, surrounded by Secret Service agents, his profile punctuated with blood, with his fist elevated in implacability. The act was met with vociferous chants of “USA” from the crowd, a sea of people clearly painting Trump as akin to an emblem of their country. Accompanying this image came an onslaught of clashing representations and contrasting portrayals.
Trump was witnessed mouthing “fight, fight, fight” whilst been escorted to his car very shortly after he was injured, according to CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel. “It’s not the kind of message we want to be sending right now,” Gangel said. The observation caused something of an outrage amongst those who are of both political agendas.
X, formerly Twitter, was particularly ablaze. Donald Trump Jr. called CNN “vile” on the platform for focusing on such a detail mere minutes after his father was in the line of fire. Perhaps the eldest son of the former president underestimated the impact the moment had on supporters, who seem to have coined the phrase as a slogan now. Trump made his first public appearance since the incident yesterday at the National Republican Convention in Milwaukee, and was met with a chorus of “fight, fight, fight” from attendees.
The question arises as to where this new burst of brio propels the American political scene, and what message both Trump and his supporters are trying to present to the rest of the country. Prevalently left-leaning media outlets such as the aforementioned CNN are seeing this as provocative of violence, while right-leaning journalists are perceiving it as an injunction to the capital to be proud of.
Initially, Trump’s position in the eyes of the public has been precarious, to say the least. Following his trial in May to investigate the “hush money” he provided to Stormy Daniels ahead of his 2016 presidential election, Trump was deemed guilty on all charges, and judge sentencing is due to take place on July 11th. While Biden argued that “no one is above the law” when speaking out on his current opponent’s verdict, it seems as if Trump is using his time wisely to garner as much succour from his audience as humanly possible.
X was also swift to accrue conspiracy theories blaming left-wing extremists, while the word “staged” was trending at number two by the successive morning. A large majority of users took to mockery, while others expressed genuine concern. It was a mixed bag of reactions from the public across the globe, but one hackneyed gif from the movie Mean Girls showing a keen voter for Regina George only doing so because “she got hit by that bus” remains particularly relevant; according to the Financial Times, punters have deemed Trump as being four times more likely to win the election following the assassination attempt over the weekend. His bloodied face and call to “fight” are going to be difficult for Americans to erase by November 5th; Reagan had an eight-point boost upon his election under the same circumstances.
On the flip side, pollsters such as Cornell Belcher point out that political morality will likely win out in the present day, and sympathy may be difficult to garner after Trump’s tumultuous past and his continuously shifting and archaic views on reproductive rights. Though he has seemingly pulled back on these views, his own words are being wittily used against him; protesters at the NRC were seen shouting “fight, fight, fight, abortion is a human right”.
One thing the media has agreed on is that this is all in keeping with Trump’s character, no matter the desired outcome; it’s difficult to doubt that he’ll be taking full advantage of the situation. While it’s clear that the attempt on Donald Trump’s life has both deepened the divide between the left and right wing, whilst also pulling into perspective the overarching political landscape currently underpinning the USA. In a similar vein to Gangel, current US President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Sunday and implored Americans to “cool it down” in a vie for unanimity in the face of political violence. But should the White House, especially if Trump is to win the election, begin turning closer to home with this sentiment?
It's indeed difficult to determine who this message was intended for and for what purpose, with so much controversy and unpredictability surrounding the man who is sending it. Amidst the media’s constructions of differing narratives to compliment Donald Trump’s actions, one thing is clear: what this message really means for the upcoming election is yet to be seen.
