We are a nation steeped in violence but Donald Trump has introduced a new form of political violence. In the wake of the assassination attempt on him, we can’t react by denying reality or letting wishful thinking get in the way of dealing with that reality.
By Rich Heiland, Columnist, The Times
VIOLENCE HAS NO place in the United States?
Seriously?
What world do all the political and public figures who have shouted that since Saturday’s attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump live in?
Fact. We are a nation steeped in violence. From the first Europeans who stepped on to North America’s sandy shores through our revolution, our daily lives, our westward settlement, our life as a nation up to the gun carnage on today’s streets, we are nothing if not violent. Violence is central to our art, our music, literature, movies and our daily lives.
To say it has no place in the United States may be aspirational, but it is not historic fact. To hope that one day we may eradicate from our gene pool is noble but that is a journey we have not yet begun.
Since a bullet grazed Donald Trump’s ear we have had pleas for unity. We have had pleas to tone down the political rhetoric. Yet, behind those pleas we can hear Republican vice-presidential candidates and members of Congress claiming that Joe Biden ordered a hit and should be indicted; we have heard claims that Democrats fear they can’t beat Trump so want him dead. And, in fairness, some on the left have played at sick humor that the attempt failed.
It is true that Joe Biden has used strong rhetoric against Donald Trump, as have others. Trump critics have called him a neo-fascist, said he and his Project 2025 are a threat to democracy. To say that is not to be inflammatory; it is to speak the truth. To suggest Biden not say it going forward is to step outside truth and reality.
WE ARE AT a singular moment in U.S. history.
We always have had political violence, including assassination. But, if you go back through history, few attempted or successful assassination really have come as a part of the political process. By and large the attempts came from the disaffected, the disillusioned, the mentally ill. It may be that when we know all the facts, the attempt on Trump will follow that pattern.
Here is what is different. We never, in the history of our nation, have had a president or presidential candidate who has run on a platform of violence and the overthrowal of political and cultural norms.
We never have had a president who called for his followers to storm the U.S. Capitol and threaten to hang a vice-president all to overturn a free and fair election. We never have had a president tell a terrorist group, The Proud Boys, to “stand back and stand by.” We never have had a president vilify our election process to the point election workers receive death threats.
Since he came on the political scene in 2015 Donald Trump has incited violence. His calls for violence, echoed by his minions, have been directed toward doing violence to his opponents. But here’s the thing about violence. Once unleashed, it is beyond control. Whether the unhinged actors come from the right or the left doesn’t matter. They will come.
Since Trump and his cult like to lay claim to being Christian, maybe a Bible verse is in order.
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” – Hosea 8:7
There is only way to step back from this, and it’s not to quit calling Trump out for what he is.
It is to do that one thing we all can do and do in peace. We can vote.
We have a national cancer in the form of Donald Trump, his followers and all they believe. The way to remove it is not through violence. It is through voting.
We can perform a national exorcism. We can begin the slow journey toward a time when we may have a government where people of different views sit down together and work for betterment of all people. Sounds so distant, I know. But we must take a first step.
That step begins with the understanding that there is only one side in our upcoming elections. It is the side represented by Democrats. Forget the controversy about Biden’s age. It doesn’t matter if the ticket is headed by Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Forrest Gump. From top to bottom your vote can go only one way if we are to end this national nightmare.
Democrats – continue to organize, to do the hard work on the ground.
Independents – I understand your frustration with our two-party system. I share a lot of it. But nothing gets fixed if the far right, with its Project 2025 and goal of a “Unified Reich” wins up and down on Nov. 5.
Republicans – I know there remain some Republicans who remember a party of the past which held different views of government but shared a common belief in our form of government. If you really want a world where legitimately conservative views can be on the table, you need to vote for such a world.
Interest groups – the young, minorities, various ages. What you believe in, regardless of what it is, has no future under Donald Trump. None. Voting rights, women’s rights, gay rights, the environment, none of that. This is not a time for a protest vote nor a time to express your impatience. You can do that later.
Our cure to this cancer, to this actual and political violence, can be found in only one place – the quiet, private and sacred sanctity of the voting booth.
This is not a time for unity, if unity means ignoring what is tearing us apart. It is not the time for calm, if calm means stepping back from reality. It is a time to take action.
Vote. Please, people. Just vote.
Rich Heiland, has been a reporter, editor, publisher/general manager at papers in Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and New Hampshire. He was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Xenia Daily (OH) Daily Gazette, a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year and taught journalism at Western Illinois University and leadership and community development at Woodbury College in Vermont. He also has operated in an international consulting business specializing in customer service, general management, leadership and staff development with major corporations, organizations, and government. He is a member of West Chester (PA) Friends Meeting. He and his wife live in West Chester, PA. He can be reached at
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