Behind the Curtain: America plays with fire
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The assassination attempt on former President Trump was shocking — but not surprising.
Why it matters: Everything in America has turned political. Everything political turned visceral. And everything visceral turned into the possibility of unspeakable violence like this.
Everyone sees it, feels it, predicts it. Some actively agitate for it on social media and TV. Now, we have it. Again. And again. And again. Intelligence officials privately warn of more to come.
- We've watched it build from a lunatic shooting a member of Congress in the head, to the bullets sprayed at members of Congress playing ball, to the brutality and violence on Jan. 6, to a crazed man pounding to near-death the husband of Nancy Pelosi.
- And now a bullet was just inches from killing Trump.
The reaction by so many, so fast shows why lowering the temperature seems so implausible. Within moments, prominent Republicans blamed President Biden, the Secret Service, the media. Prominent Democrats blamed Trump's own violent rhetoric for an attempt on his own life.
Reversing this trend toward verbal and actual violence requires clear-eyed views of some of its root causes:
- Everything is politics. Politics has seeped into, well, everything: where we worship, what we drive, where we live, where we shop, and what we drink, the books we read, the words we ban. The result: this puts more people in more settings on edge.
- Everyone gets sucked into it. Politics use to be mostly boring and largely confined to political professionals and enthusiasts. Now, everyone gets sucked in: CEOs (Elon Musk), investors (David Sacks and Reid Hoffman), actors (George Clooney), sports stars (Aaron Rodgers).
- Social media's bombastic bias. The loudest, most provocative, most bellicose voices echo loudest on most social media platforms. It's the quickest way to fans, followers and fame. It seduces people to say and write things they might muffle or calibrate in person or with more words. Read X in moments since the shooting — it's often horrifying and gross.
- Visceral vs. academic. Politics are no longer fought on the academic terms of the 1990s and 2000s: higher taxes vs. lower taxes, lighter vs. heavier regulation, more military spending vs. less. Now it's about our identity: our patriotism, our values, our feelings and emotions. So attacks feel personal, not policy-centric.
- Existential. Both sides frame this election as not one fight for one four-year term, but a battle for America and humanity. People don't threaten civil wars over COLA adjustments for Social Security recipients. They do to save the nation and our species.
The end result: More violence.
- For the past year, top government officials have been telling us domestic violence is a clear and present danger to America, especially after the election. They see this in social media chatter, phone threats to members of Congress and candidates, and Homeland Security data.
- And now in the near-murder of a presidential candidate.
