A Bad Turn
7.14.24
We were already having a bad election year when somebody identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20 years old, tried to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania Saturday.
The FBI, as the lead investigative agency, will conduct a criminal investigation and a theory of the case may emerge quickly, but it will be just that — a theory. And that probably will not satisfy the portion of the public that embraces conspiracy theories as the more palatable explanations for events such as these.
Those of us who prefer fact-based explanations will just have to wait, while hoping this does not unleash yet another escalation in the political rhetoric of hate, fear, calls for retribution and anti-democratic authoritarianism.
Meanwhile, I’m afraid a very bad year just got immeasurably worse.
HEADLINES:
Trump injured in shooting at Pennsylvania rally that left at least 1 dead (CNN)
The Attempt on Donald Trump’s Life and an Image That Will Last (New Yorker)
Amid shooting at Donald Trump rally, fears of political violence reach new heights (NBC)
Hamas Official: ‘We’re Not Obstinate’ in Cease-Fire Talks on Gaza (NYT)
At least 70 Palestinians reported killed in Israeli strike targeting Hamas military chief (CNN)
Bullish Biden defies those calling for him to step down (Reuters)
Trump aides script convention to soften his image, but face challenges (WP)
Deeply Democratic Milwaukee wrestles with hosting Trump and the Republican National Convention (AP)
Democrats Fear Safe Blue States Turning Purple as Biden Stays the Course (NYT)
Remember the Alamo? Rehab of battle site is latest front in culture war. (WP)
The battle over America’s soul (Economist)
A stunning find in his family tree: The Bushes’ ancestors enslaved his relatives (WP)
SpaceX's Falcon 9 grounded, batch of Starlink satellites doomed (Reuters)
Taliban tries reconciling science and religion in facing climate change (WP)
Machine learning and the microscope (MIT)
AI bubble set to inflate further (Financial Times)
Galaxy AI vs Apple Intelligence – who's winning the AI war? (Techradar)
OpenAI illegally barred staff from airing safety risks, whistleblowers say (WP)
FDA Crackdown Forces Colgate To Remove Nicotine From Toothpaste (The Onion)
That 20-year-old assassin, who wound up dead on a Pennsylvania rooftop, has guaranteed that Trump will return to the White House, quite probably with majorities in both houses of Congress. Biden will be the Democratic candidate, because no on else in their right mind would want to run in an election that has now been decisively lost. Any campaigning focused on the issue of Trump's dire psychopathology, the umbrella that covers all of the reasons to fear and loathe him, will be impossible.
The assassination attempt was clearly real, rather than a set-up meant to generate sympathy (which would under other circumstances be quite plausible in the MAGA universe). But in fact, the bullet came within an inch of blowing his brains out, eliminating any likelihood of invention. It will bolster a principal theme in the Trump playbook, the absurd charge than Trump himself and his supporters are "victims of a massive conspiracy." For anyone with a functioning mind, that's no more believable today than it was yesterday. But in Trumpland, it has been taken as the gospel truth (often literally) since the 2020 election and the January insurrection, and it will now take the form of ultimate proof for the faithful.
What all of this means, in very short order, is worldwide chaos. Trump is highly likely to pull the United States out of NATO, and fatally cut U.S. financial commitments to all other international organizations. It will ensure a Russian victory in Ukraine, vastly increase the power and influence of Putin, and deep-six what is already profoundly insufficient international collaboration across national borders to meet the linked crises of climate change and massive refugee waves: the existential dilemma of the 21st century.
We stand, all but helpless, at a terrifying crossroads.
Trump, who preaches the type of political violence that fuels it, keeps dodging bullets. He is such a skilled propagandist that he had the political savvy– some might say, the courage – to, shortly after the assassination attempt grazed his ear, raise his fist defiantly and shout to the assembled crowd: “fight, fight, fight." Obviously he will use the video of that moment, on his social media platform, Truth Social, and elsewhere to his enormous political, electoral, and fund-raising benefit.