By Jonah Goldberg
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Another unwell person sought to kill Donald Trump,
according to the FBI and other officials. We should all be grateful that no one
was hurt, and that the Secret Service and local law enforcement appear to have
done their jobs properly.
I’m also grateful to former President Trump for assigning
blame for the foiled assassination attempt to Democratic rhetoric, specifically
that of “Biden and Harris.” On Monday, he told Fox News Digital, “Their
rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save
the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from
the inside and out.”
Why am I grateful to Trump? For starters, because he
saved me an enormous amount of time. I planned to address this claim using
examples from Trump boosters. “Dems Still in ‘Stop Hitler’ Incitement Mode”
read one headline at Breitbart
before it was edited to tone it down. But collecting such quotes—often from
second- or third-rate MAGA sycophants and apologists—is tedious and it requires
arguing with people I’d rather not elevate by taking them seriously.
But here we have the claim stated concisely by the
presidential candidate—and target—himself. Even better, it contains the
fundamental cynicism and hypocrisy of much lengthier versions of this talking
point.
Trump believes that the “threat to democracy” charge
against him is inciting people to violence. This could be possible, though
there is little evidence that the would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, in
July was motivated by politics; the latest assailant, a one-time Trump
supporter turned critic, certainly seems to have been very political, whatever
his specific motivation.
Still, in a country of 337 million people, it’s always
going to be the case that some tiny fraction of unwell people will be motivated
to violence by “extreme” claims.
And here’s the problem with the argument as it’s made by
Trump and his defenders. They are not against allegedly violence-inciting,
rhetorical extremism, they’re against such rhetoric deployed against Trump.
Similar rhetoric targeting Biden and Harris is just fine.
Go back and look at Trump’s complaint. “They are the ones
that are destroying the country,” he insists. Later he adds, “It is called the
enemy from within. They are the real threat.”
In other words, Trump believes the problem isn’t
apocalyptic rhetoric that incites violence. No, the problem is that people
believe the rhetoric about him, when they should believe his similar rhetoric
about his political opponents. Indeed, Trump routinely insists that if
Harris—whom he calls a communist and fascist—is elected, “The country will be
over.”
Few of the people, including Trump himself, who will
blame “hateful rhetoric constantly aimed at Trump,” in the
words of the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, for Sunday’s
assassination attempt, have any problem with Trump’s hateful rhetoric. It’s a
remarkable double standard. We can wax Jesuitical about the differences between
saying Harris will “destroy” the country and saying that Trump is a “threat to
democracy.” But logically and empirically, the differences between the claims
are nugatory.
There is an objective divergence, however.
People—including some unhinged ones—find the charges against Trump plausible.
That might have more to do with Trump’s past behavior (say, on January 6) or
his stated positions (his call to terminate
the Constitution so he can retake power, perhaps) than with the persuasiveness
of his critics or the power of the media.
Indeed, whether the claim that Trump is a threat to
democracy is extreme depends largely on whether it is true. If he is a threat
to democracy, then calling him one is merely an accurate description. It’s
irresponsible—or “extreme” in the colloquial argot of politics these days—to falsely
shout, “Fire!” in a crowded theater. If you actually see a fire, it’s a
defensible warning.
This assassination attempt came amid a broiling
controversy over baseless
claims by Trump
and J.D. Vance about Haitian immigrants feasting on pet cats and dogs in
Springfield, Ohio. These claims resulted in school
closures over bomb threats and shooting
threats against Haitians in Springfield. Bear in mind that Trump routinely
refers to migrants as blood-poisoning vermin. And yet, complaints and concerns
from the handwringers about inciteful rhetoric aimed at Trump have not been
forthcoming.
It’s worth recalling that conservatives used to denounce
efforts to blame politicians for the actions of madmen. When then-Democratic
Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot in Arizona in 2011, many liberals ludicrously
insisted that Sarah Palin was to blame, and conservatives rightly objected.
Now, many conservatives sound like those liberals, only in defense of Donald
Trump.
If hypocrisy was helium, many people would have funny
voices, and some would just float away.
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