Takeaways

I'm sure you know that some troubled young, REPUBLICAN, man tried to assassinate Convicted Felon Trump last weekend. An attempted Presidential assassination hasn't happened since 1981 and it's a horrifying, yet not surprising, development in America.

Here are my takeaways.

Some people are saying this gives Convicted Felon Trump the election. I don't think so. There are still months to go, Trump's vile personality and horrific ideas haven't changed, and abortion is on the ballot. Plus, there probably aren't a lot of people in the "I wasn't going to vote for Trump, but now that someone took a shot at him, I'm going to," demographic. Any bump from this will be temporary.

I've heard people say that if Trump had died, he'd be a martyr and a smarter and more competent MAGA person would be elected in his place. I disagree for the simple reason that there are no smarter and more competent MAGA folk who could actually take Trump's place. His VP pick, JD Vance, isn't especially respected within MAGA land, nor is he smart or competent. Who else is there? Matt Gaetz? Marjorie Taylor Greene? Don Trump, Jr? The attempted elevation of any one of these to replace the Convicted Felon would result in a MAGA civil war. Plus, establishment Republicans would try to regain control of the party. MAGA is a cult of personality. It doesn't survive Trump.

There have been calls for both sides to tone down the threats and violence. Such obvious both-sidesing is utter bullshit. Republicans were responsible for the Jan. 6th violence that killed nine, the attack on the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the plot to kidnap and murder Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Republican congresspeople wear AR-15 pins on their lapels. Republican Reps. and Senators frequently call for violence against Democrats.

Trump himself MADE FUN of the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. He has also frequently praised the Jan. 6th insurrectionists. He has called for the EXECUTION of people on his enemies list, including everyone involved in his various court cases and former Rep. Liz Cheney and The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. You may be able to find Democratic voters making violent remarks about Republicans, but you won't find elected Democratic officials or President Biden doing it. The two parties are NOT the same. Trump sowed what he reaped.

On Sunday night, President Biden said this:

Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump. There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.

Over the past 48 hours, Republicans blamed Democrats for the assassination attempt because Democrats have called Trump a threat to democracy. This is ridiculous because Trump's "policies" aka Project 2025, *are* a direct threat to democracy. That's a fact and Democrats shouldn't stop saying it. Democrats need to make clear, and they have, that violence isn't an option or a solution, but Republicans trying to gaslight them into ignoring Trump's fascist-leanings or his desire for a dictatorship would be political suicide if followed. If Republicans want Trump not to be seen as a wanna-be dictator, maybe he should stop being a wanna-be dictator.

I'm glad he's not dead, but he's responsible for over a million COVID deaths, the taking away of a Constitutional right, and taking America to the edge of a dictatorship, among other horrors. He gets no sympathy from me.