Details are still coming out after an attempted assassination of former President Trump, but one thing we’re sadly already seeing are people on all sides trying to peddle the usual nonsense. Conspiracy theories, blaming broad swaths of societies for what one person ultimately did, and general hatred are already floating around. I know most readers here are better people than that, and I’m glad that I know that.
So, it’s us who are going to need to be the peacemakers and voices of reason right now.
I think the first thing we need to keep in mind is that people on different political sides from us are not some mysterious group of strangers out to get us. We all have that hippy liberal aunt who’s telling everyone about Project 2025’s fascist takeover at family dinners. We all have that uncle who talks about the downfall of western civilization, how Obama is running the show, and such. Would we wish harm on those loved ones we disagree with, though? Absolutely not.
The people on opposite sides might not be our loved ones, but they’re somebody’s crazy aunt or uncle.
I’m not going to preach absurdity here and say that there’s never a place for violence. Of course, legitimate self-defense is not only legal, but morally required of any decent person who loves their family and country. The same is true for fighting tyranny, as well. There IS a time and a place for violence, and it’s absurd to say words like “never” when discussing these topics, even when it sounds good at the time. But, we also must keep in mind what the Declaration of Independence has to say about the use of violence:
”Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
While we don’t know what the shooter’s exact motivations were at this point, it seems very likely that they were acting out of fear that Trump could become a dictator or buying into any line of dangerous rhetoric we’ve heard thrown around in this election season. We’ve seen this said by everyone from random people on social media to the mainstream media to even Biden himself. Naturally, one who truly believed that would want to take action to stop a tyrant from taking power, even if their fears may have been deeply misguided.
If that’s the case, a serious moral error was still made. Violence is only morally justified as a last resort, when all other options are either exhausted or unavailable. Assuming for the sake of argument that Trump will become a dictator if elected, it’s still July, and the election is in November. Further, Trump wouldn’t become president again until the end of January. All of that time gives ample opportunity for peaceful protest, legal action, and other options that fall far short of killing. So, there’s absolutely no moral justification for what happened this weekend. This was far from the time and place for violence.
I’m sure it’s tempting for many people who support Donald Trump to want to strike back, but we also need to keep in mind that this is probably what the shooter wanted. They had to know that killing Trump would result in backlash and possibly even a virtual civil war in our streets, and they may have been misguided enough to think that their side could win such a war (history pro tip: nobody wins a civil war). The job of good, moral people now is to prove such idiots wrong.
No matter who you support in the upcoming election, now is the time to work to win fair and square in a peaceful election. We need to show violent morons everywhere that America is better than them and that one idiot can’t make us descend into violence and chaos like Europe after Archduke Franz Ferdinand. We may have passionate differences, but we aren’t a violent and bloodthirsty people who go to violence at the first opportunity instead of a last resort.
To do that, all of us are going to have to keep pushing for free and fair elections, but we also need to work to keep those around us from getting crazy and joining the bazaar of immoral, premature violence. To do this, we need to remind people to not blame half of society, peddle unfounded conspiracy theories and otherwise inflame the tension. We need people to remember that the other side almost always includes some of our friends, family and other loved ones.
If America does descend into violence and stupidity, we need to make sure we at least tried to steer it toward peace and prosperity first. I think America as a whole is up for that job.
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