Political violence, 'as American as apple pie.'
Political violence, 'as American as apple pie.'
Plus Weekend Quotables
Saturday night at a fairground in Butler, Pa., where Trump took the stage to chants of “USA, USA…”, a 20-year-old man fired an AR-15 from a rooftop just outside the rally. The suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a white, male, registered Republican, was killed by a Secret Service sniper so we may never know his motive or if he had accomplices. The Wall Street Journal reported that he used an AR-15 purchased by his father.
In the wake of the shooting, the Democrats have folded like a cheap suit on the Biden presidential campaign.
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign quickly upended its strategy after an assassination attempt on Republican rival Donald Trump in western Pennsylvania, calling off verbal attacks on the former president to focus instead on a message of unity.
Within hours of Saturday's shooting, Biden's campaign was pulling down television ads and suspending other political communications, including those that had highlighted Trump's May felony conviction in New York state court relating to hush money paid to a porn star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 U.S. election.
Most Americans oppose political violence and assassination attempts on politicians. But that opposition doesn’t indicate the need for a capitulation to fascism. Quite the opposite. It is Trump and his MAGA movement that have always been the purveyors of violence against protesters, women, immigrants, and political opponents.
Trump and the MAGAs have helped make the AR-15 the indelible icon of the white supremacist and anti-immigrant movement. When Trump ran for office in 2016, the NRA was skeptical because years earlier he had written that he supported the federal assault weapons ban. He eased those concerns by blasting the plan of his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, to ban AR-15s. Gun makers supported Trump, but ramped up AR-15 production in anticipation of a Clinton victory. When Trump won, sales plummeted as gun owners no longer feared a ban was imminent. Gun makers dubbed the era “the Trump Slump.” Since then, Democrats have shied away from supporting a new assault weapons ban or any serious gun-control legislation.
Many gun owners embrace assault weapons as a way of assuaging their fear of the other. Hunters generally have disdain for it. The ability to shoot lots of bullets quickly isn’t a big draw to sportsmen who pride themselves on skill and accuracy.
I see the AR-15 as a symbol of racist gun culture run amok, the weapon of choice for white supremacists, terrorists, and mass shooters.
Now is not the time to pull back or tone down the campaign against Trump. It has already been toned down enough because of Biden’s incapacity.
Weekend Quotables
In the shocking chaos of the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Trump was encouraging supporters to “fight.” — CNN
Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter
"We're all MAGA now." — Sun-Times
Me: Nope, nope, nope…
Chris Hedges
Cults are a product of social decay and despair, and our decay and despair are expanding, soon to explode in another financial crisis. — Chris Hedges Report
Ben Gurgis
If you’re a left-liberal who believes Trump is literally a fascist you might point out that it hardly follows from this that shooting him would diminish the fascist threat. — Jacobin
Lianys Torres Rivera, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, Embassy of Cuba in the US
“As victims of attacks and terrorism for 65 years, Cuba ratifies its historical position of condemnation of all forms of violence. The arms business and the escalation of political violence in #USA lead to incidents like the one that took place this Saturday in that country”. — X
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth-based journalist
Despite what the political class wants you to believe, “political violence” is as American as apple pie. The US global empire was built on political violence, or the threat of it, most especially after the Second World War. Just ask the people of Vietnam, Serbia, Latin America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. — Blog
Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the French CGT union
In an interview with French broadcaster LCI Thursday, Binet said that if Macron did not respect the election results, “he risks once again plunging the country into chaos.”
Binet said the president should allow the New Popular Front to form the new government. “There must be popular, citizens’ pressure so that the elections’ results are respected,” Binet said. — PBS
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