MILWAUKEE – The assassination attempt against Donald Trump transformed the landscape of the November race, as outraged Republicans rallied around images of the former president’s clenched-fist defiance ahead of the GOP nominating convention.
Already emboldened by their electoral prospects, Trump’s supporters were electrified and aghast by the attack at the former president’s rural Pennsylvania rally on Saturday as delegates in Milwaukee prepared for what was once to have been a celebratory processional.
The Republican National Convention will now take on a more somber tone, as the tenor and messaging of the four-day event seems certain to morph after a shooting that reinforced grievances of conservatives who have long seen Trump as a victim of political persecution.
“If you were pissed before, you ought to really be pissed now,” said Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson, a Georgia GOP delegate in Milwaukee who admired how Trump “stood up with his fist” moments after the attempt on his life.
“Why? In defiance to say you will not stop this movement. You will not stop us from fighting not only to unite our country, but to take back our country.”
Democrats already grappling with an internal war over President Joe Biden’s electability worried that Trump’s bare-knuckled reaction presented a sobering contrast as they confront deepening questions about their nominee’s health.
“The campaign numbers have been remarkably static for almost a year, with very little movement or change for either candidate,” said Rick Dent, a longtime Democratic strategist. “But this horrible event may be the jolt that electrifies the Republican Party.”
Moments after Thomas Matthew Crooks narrowly missed taking Trump’s life, the blood-spattered former president appeared to mouth the words “fight, fight, fight” as he was whisked off the stage by U.S. Secret Service agents.
The image of Trump holding his fist aloft against the backdrop of a flowing American flag seemed destined to join the mug shot at Fulton County as an indelible campaign moment, and supporters like former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler amplified it on social media.
Frank Luntz, a communications strategist and pollster who has done extensive work for Republican candidates, expected it to be the “visual people remember at the polling booth when they think about Election 2024.”
“It will guarantee that every Trump supporter now will be a Trump voter in November. Trump’s voters are energized, Biden’s voters are demoralized,” said Luntz, pointedly adding that in his view “the 2024 presidential election is now Trump’s to lose.”
Declaring himself safe, Trump on Sunday called on Americans to “stand united” as authorities investigated the attack that left a shooter and one spectator dead. Biden urged the country to “unite as one nation” and ordered an independent security review of how the attack unfolded.
The FBI named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the suspected gunman. FBI Director Christopher Wray says authorities “will leave no stone unturned” in their probe.
In a primetime address from the Oval Office late Sunday, Biden the nation needs to “lower the temperature in our politics.”
“We cannot, we must not, go down this road in America,” he said. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
While most political leaders immediately condemned the shooting as the latest act of political violence that is becoming a disturbing part of American culture, some rushed to spread conspiracy theories. Others upheld Trump as a martyr-like figure.
Debbie Dooley is a longtime conservative activist whose influence grew fighting then-President Barack Obama’s policies. Now a member of the Georgia GOP’s contingent in Milwaukee, she predicted Trump will benefit from the horror of the shooting.
Credit: Melissa Golden
Credit: Melissa Golden
“Trump will win by a landslide now. It doesn’t matter who the Democrat nominee is,” she said. “Folks were already moving to Trump because of the politically motivated prosecutions and the constant attacks. The assassination attempt and Trump’s response will unite Americans.”
Democrats reckoned with the uncertain fallout of the assassination attempt in a state where party leaders were already concerned about Biden’s weakening chances after his disastrous June debate performance.
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, a key Biden ally, said he was heartened that most political leaders were responding with “empathy and condemnation of the attack” rather than exploiting it for political purposes.
“The Trump campaign can go one of two roads here. It can continue with the early mainstream Republican response and focus on unity and condemning violence, or it can try to inflame tensions on purpose in service of some agenda,” said McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat. “Here’s hoping it’s the former.”
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Republicans said the violence gave their cause a newfound urgency. Marci McCarthy, the DeKalb GOP chair, was watching the Pennsylvania rally live from her Milwaukee hotel room when the shooting erupted. As she relayed to her husband what happened, tears streamed down.
“I saw a man who, despite being shot at and bleeding from his head, ear and face, stood up, raised his fist in the air, and repeatedly said, ‘Fight, fight,’” said McCarthy, one of Georgia’s 59 delegates to the RNC. “He was still alive and not going anywhere. It makes me more honored than ever to be here.”
Shortly after arriving in Milwaukee, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed Biden and other Trump opponents for rhetoric, including the description of Trump as a future dictator, that she said ratcheted up tensions.
“The rhetoric that has come from the left and the media at large for years now has pushed us to this level and divided this country,” said Greene, who said she “constantly” receives death threats. “It’s sickening and it needs to stop.”
Prominent Democrats, too, lamented the conditions that set the stage for the attacks. U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, whose son Jordan Davis was gunned down 14 years ago, said the violence should reframe the national debate over new firearms restrictions.
“Nobody is safe from gun violence in our country,” McBath said. “From a former president to my own son. We cannot allow any place for political violence. My prayers are with the former president. We can and must do better.”
The four-day convention that launches Monday will convene amid mounting concerns about the nation’s security infrastructure. Trump’s campaign sent a memo to staff indicating that the convention will remain on schedule, but that new security measures were being implemented.
Some Republicans worry supporters in competitive states could grow overconfident after such a galvanizing incident. Trump narrowly lost Georgia in 2020 in part because he couldn’t translate energy around his candidacy to votes against surging Democrats.
Veteran political strategist Dan McLagan said Trump should combine a note of resolve with the “defiance and strength” he showed after the attack when he formally accepts his party’s nomination on Thursday.
“If he does that,” McLagan said, “his acceptance speech goes from an act of political persuasion to a warmup for his second Inauguration address.”
Audio producer Shane Backler contributed to this report.
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