The events of Saturday evening when 20-year old Thomas Mathew Crooks attempted to fire at former US President Donald Trump has stunned Americans. Quick action by a Secret Service sniper ensured that Crooks was killed at the scene. He reportedly used his father’s gun to fire at Trump. Several questions remain unanswered at this point of time. What made Crooks a registered Republican fire on Trump? The upcoming US elections on November 5, 2024, would have been the first time he voted in a presidential election. Jason Kohler who attended the same high school as Crooks but did not share any classes with him said Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time. Other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits. Kohler said that Crooks was bullied almost every day and he was an outcast. This brings to the fore the mental health of such people who grow up with a deep-seated inferiority complex which parents are all too often too busy to recognise.
But what is currently being discussed is also whether Trump’s security cover was inadequate. This will remain a question to be answered by the Secret Service. What’s urgently needed is for Americans to converge on one issue – that political violence or any kind of violence is antithetical to democracy. But that is far from happening. The Saturday assassination attempt on Trump has instead driven the wedge between the Democrats and Republicans deeper. A democracy is about discussing differences in an atmosphere of civility which Trump does not seem to believe in. His language has been asinine at the best of times. Also in a democracy, candidates are supposed to tame their supporters and not use provocative language against opponents as if they are sworn enemies. In a contest, one side wins and the other loses. Supporters should be able to accept the loss of their candidate. To claim like Trump did in the last election that Biden stole it, is not acceptable.
American democracy as envisaged by Thomas Jefferson is the novel agreement to work out differences in peace through representative democracy. Democracy is fought through the ballot box, not bullets. This incident has created an indelible image of Trump with his hands raised, signalling to his supporters that he is alive, albeit brushed by a bullet. Trump can be expected to use this as his campaign logo. And knowing Trump, this incident is likely to make public discourse more abrasive. But a time has come for American civil society to take stock of Saturday’s incident and urge political leaders of both parties to accept that the electoral process is more important than the results and the sanctity of that democratic process needs to be safeguarded.
