How will the assassination attempt on Donald Trump influence the undecided vote in the November elections? Jackson Janes, political expert, reflects on this question
He assassination attempt of former US President Donald Trump could change the minds of those who are “between the two armies”, warns an analyst.
“It is going to be difficult to reverse the bitter political violence in American politics following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a campaign rally,” European and American politics expert Jackson Janes, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told Euronews. Washington, who said that while he is not sure whether the attack on the presumptive Republican nominee will have a significant impact on the US presidential election in November, it could still change the minds of undecided voters.
Janes said the attack is expected to increase the fervor of Trump-supporting Republican voters and will not sway deeply entrenched Democrats, but has raised questions about the views of those “in between the two armies” and how they will respond.
“I think that will have a lot to do with how leaders handle the event,” Janes said.
Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are considered the main battlegrounds in the upcoming presidential elections, with the hundreds of thousands of voters in these states being crucial in deciding who will win in November.
‘Blame Game’ Rhetoric Could Affect Undecided Voters
Janes said the opinion of undecided voters will depend on how the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties respond to the attack, and whether they will enter into the “blame game” that is seeping into political circles.
“It’s an immediate opportunity for people to say that both sides have contributed to the heated polarization,” the expert said. Additionally, Janes warned that “what’s really needed now is respect for the fact that there has been this violent attack on Donald Trump and this has to be recognized for what it was, and I think Biden did that in his statement.” .
“The question is going to be, As Trump has said – in one of his recent social media posts about Truth United -, how this is going to play out in the coming days and whether people on the extremes of both parties could use this as a way to further exacerbate the comments.”
The American president, Joe Biden denounced the attack, calling it “sickening” and stating that “there is no place in the United States for this type of violence.”. Despite this, many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment.
Trump, who was slightly injured after being shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, posted on the custom social media platform Truth Social confirming that he was fine and that it is “more important than ever” for the United States is united and added that he looks forward to “speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.” The presumptive nominee is expected to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the capital of Wisconsin, which begins on July 15.
Although the event focuses on the official nomination of a presidential candidate by members of the Republican Party, Janes predicts that the event will focus largely on the emotions of the attack, but that a new challenge that will arise will be how to lower the ” temperature” of these emotions.
“Acid” political violence and political talk
Although Trump survived, Janes worries that unless something changes in the U.S., the politically motivated attack could be the first of many over the next decade.
The expert compared the current environment in the United States with the tumult of the 1960s, punctuated by the assassinations of political leaders John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and community leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
“This impetus for political accumulation, this acidity, this temperature that we have…if you combine it with the same willingness of people to use weapons…you are asking for problems,” he stated, although he also stated that he “I would like to think that we have come this far, but political violence and political conversations have become much more acidic. We have to turn it around”.
International leaders from across the political spectrum they condemned the attack, which caused one death and two injuries among those attending the demonstration. US Secret Service agents fatally shot gunman Thomas Crooks20, shortly after he shot Trump.
