Dina Mahmoud (London Washington)
Donald Trump resumed his campaign yesterday, for the first time since the assassination attempt, noting that “only important presidents get shot”, while praising Kamala Harris for checking up on him.
“As you know, only important presidents get shot,” Trump said at a town hall meeting with enthusiastic supporters in Flint, Michigan, a swing state.
Harris, who is campaigning in Pennsylvania, said she called the former president after the attempted attack.
The White House described the conversation between the candidates as “friendly and brief,” and Trump said Harris “was very nice.”
Earlier, Trump said the shooter was a follower of what he called Biden and his vice president Harris’ rhetoric, which he insists poses a threat to the country’s democracy.
Meanwhile, political and analytical circles in the United States warned that the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Sunday in Florida increases the fears of many that the specter of violence will dominate the political scene in the country.
Although it is unlikely that this attempt will have a tangible impact on the heated election race between Trump and his Democratic rival, its occurrence reveals the increasing polarization in the United States, and highlights the feelings of anxiety that many there have about what could happen in their country after the November 5 elections.
Experts stressed that the risk of violence is now present in the American political arena, whether from supporters of the far right or from supporters of the far left as well, in light of the very close popularity of the two candidates.
Although the data indicates that what is described as “extreme right-wing violence” constitutes the greatest threat to democracy in the United States, there are many indicators that warn that the possibility of those with extreme leftist tendencies practicing violence constitutes a danger in turn, which means that there is a kind of mutual extremism within the United States currently.
condemnation of political violence
Analysts have called on American politicians of all stripes, including both sides of the presidential race, to seize every opportunity possible to affirm their firm and unconditional condemnation of political violence, regardless of whether it comes from the right or the left, in order to ensure that no wave of violence occurs in the United States, whatever the outcome of the electoral process there.
They considered that there are indications suggesting the existence of a “worrying readiness” among Americans to resort to violence for political purposes during the election year.
Among these indicators is a poll conducted in late June, before the first attempt to assassinate Trump, on July 13.
The poll, which included more than 2,000 Americans, showed that a percentage of them – ranging between 6 and 10 percent – believe that the use of violence may be justified, either to prevent the Republican billionaire from returning to the White House, or to enable him to return to his presidential position, which he left after losing the elections to the current Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020.
The survey also revealed that among those who believed that there were justifications for political violence, there were those who possessed weapons, which raised concerns that the perceptions they expressed in theory could turn into actual facts on the ground, amid a general climate that observers describe as more heated than before.
Other American analysts have downplayed these concerns, pointing out that studies and opinion polls conducted in the United States over the past three years have revealed no increase in the percentage of those who believe that the use of violence to achieve political goals is justified.
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