American society has long been deeply divided and filled with political and verbal violence. The extremes surfaced with the first presidential candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008. Since his inauguration on January 20, 2009, tensions have not decreased, on the contrary: the gap has deepened to the point of aggressive irreconcilability.
For a section of Americans, that liberal, eloquent, handsome, charming and educated African-American in the White House was the pinnacle of the arduous journey that the United States of America had taken from deep conservatism, racism and social disparity to a progressive power that finally justified the self-proclaimed title of "leader of the free of the world", not only on the basis of military and economic power.
For those others, Christian fanatics, whites, modern racists, for the population open to conspiracy theories and alternative truth, or simply for the new breed conservatives, the victory of everything Obama represents was "the end of America".
Just as Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election under the slogan "Make America great again" for the opposite sex of American society was no less, no more than the downfall of a country that prides itself on its civil liberties, progressiveness, tolerance, and its political and judicial system.
The current presidential campaign in which Joe Biden and Donald Trump are running for the White House for the second time fell on this ground of heated intolerance and cemented prejudices. The messages sent by both are that they must save America and Americans from each other, that a victory for the other would mean a cataclysm.
Overheated political climate
Assassinations of presidents in the US are not new. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963 deeply traumatized the country, Ronald Reagan survived the attack in March 1981 when a bullet hit him in the chest.
The attack on Donald Trump took place in a dramatically overheated political climate. The American media most often uses the term "polarized" when reporting on undisguised divisions in society, a term that pretty much drops the ball in the rage-charged American everyday life.
In a public opinion poll last year, 33 percent of Republicans and 13 percent of Democratic supporters said that in their opinion, "American patriots" would have to resort to violence in an emergency to "save" America. Of course, both of them are considered "real" patriots.
Will the assassination of former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump lead to sobering up now? Will everyone put a finger to their forehead and think about the hatred that has taken off among Americans? Will Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the next TV duel, unlike the first, shake each other's hand and wish that the better one wins?
At first, both of them gave calming statements. Biden called Trump and strongly condemned the assassination. Trump, for a change, didn't blame anyone, but himself thanked the members of the secret service and said that it was unthinkable that "something like this could happen in our country".
But will it stay there?
Milestone
Assassination of Trump it happened at a turning point in the presidential election campaign. Trump is struggling with numerous criminal charges and lawsuits, and Biden is being called by a number of his influential Democrats to withdraw from the campaign due to increasingly frequent and embarrassing gaffes that raise suspicions that he has become senile.
According to daily polls, the race is very uncertain, and for some time they have generally shown that Trump enjoys 42 percent of support and Biden 41 percent.
It is certain that the assassination will change the dynamics of the campaign. But which way will he take her?
The former president, since Biden defeated him four years ago, has been shouting at the top of his voice that he was stolen, that the "deep state" conspired against him, that they are setting up "political" processes for him because they cannot defeat him otherwise, that "parasitic political elites" turned on him because he and only he can save America from destruction, to "return it to the little man", to "defend" it from the invasion of emigrants and the "corrupt" clique he represents Biden.
Just a few minutes after the assassination, the ultra-conservative organization Conservative Political Action Conference close to Trump announced: "For years, leftists and the media have been spreading lies about President Trump and demonizing him." When that failed, they tried to close it. Today we experienced the terrible consequences of such dangerous rhetoric".
And JD Waynes, a senator from Ohio and a possible vice president of the USA in the event of a Trump victory, wrote on Platform X: "The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs." Such rhetoric is directly responsible for the assassination attempt on President Trump."
It is a vocabulary that, since the shots were fired in the direction of Donald Trump, has been pouring out from the ranks of the Republicans. The message is: since the left-wing bloc has presented Trump as a danger to democracy and the rule of law, he has become free hunting.
Nuclear power for the Trump campaign
All this is happening while nothing is still known about the motives of the assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
But, chances are, it won't even matter for the presidential campaign. Images of Donald Trump with a bloodied face and defiantly raised fist have traveled the world - and above all America.
It is hard to imagine that the former president will renounce such atomic propaganda. It can also be assumed that the assassination attempt will silence even those Republicans who are very critical of Trump, that the Conservative Party will close ranks even more with its presidential candidate, and that many people will feel a sense of empathy towards the target of the assassination.
The November 5 election is less than four months away. So far in his campaign, Trump has presented himself as a victim of an elitist, corrupt system. As an actual victim of an assassination attempt, he now has a nuclear political weapon in his hands. It should be assumed that he will not hesitate to use it.
There are also those who believe that after the failed assassination, the winner of this election cycle is decided - it will be Donald Trump.
