USA: misfiring in more than just one way

       What is the state of affairs for the forthcoming (unarmed) battle for the presidency of the United States? Prior to the election on November 5th, what is the nature of (much of) America? Is President Biden still 'all there'? Will Trump be able to be less melodramatic and tone down his rhetoric which has long been a melodramatic collection of hysteria and complete bollocks? 

        Is the US still a gun culture which only asks some of the right questions when someone tries to shoot someone, such as attempting to assassinate a former or current president?

    

          Prior to the drama in Butler, Pennsylvania, President Biden had long been up against it, especially after the presidential debate at the end of June. While Joe Biden did not function as easy prey for Donald Trump, at points he metaphorically fell asleep at the wheel. At a press conference a few days later, his attempts to redeem himself backfired. Mistakenly referring to Vice President Harris as Vice President Trump, he managed to rescue another goof by rapidly self correcting himself after having referred to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine as President Putin (whoops).

        While many were amused in the Kremlin, Vice President Harris has frequently been mentioned as a replacement candidate for Biden as she is perceived as the least risky option. That is probably what former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also told him, in addition to having told him that he cannot beat Donald in November's election. The chorus grew to include several top Democrats including Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Adam Schiff. President Biden could end up paraphrasing former President Lyndon Johnson: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."

    

           A fortnight after the televised debate, along came Thomas Matthew Crooks into instant infamy. Compared to actual assassins Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, and John Wilkes Booth, he is far more ordinary as an individual, along with having been quickly shot dead at the scene by a Secret Service sniper. He was a 20-year-old nursing home kitchen worker, a registered Republican who had also donated to ActBlue, a non-profit pro-Democrat political action committee. Definitely a conservative as many of his classmates have insisted, the ActBlue PAC donation could be an indicator of problematic self-identification. His motivation when it comes to his political affiliation are impossible to define precisely. 

            He had been a member of a local shooting club for at least 1 year. Something of a loner at school who was frequently bullied, apparently he would frequently wear hunting outfits to school. However, Crooks did not make his high school rifle team with a former classmate remembering him as a terrible shot. The ambitious wannabe gunslinger was found wearing a T-shirt from Demolition Ranch, a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers featuring videos on different guns and explosives.

         Crooks being a terrible shot was proven by only hitting the helix (the top) of Trump's right ear. This is despite him being easy to spot at that event, with his ginger-pigeon hairstyle topped off with a red baseball cap. Crooks' potshots ended up killing Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief who dived on his family in order to protect them. 

    

           While a botched burglary brought down President Nixon, to whom Trump has frequently been compared, it could be that a botched shooting has enabled him to become the second ever president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland's (1837 - 1908) presidential terms were 1885-1889, and 1893-1897. There are both contradictions and similarities between both of them. While President Cleveland (a Democrat) won the popular vote three times, President Trump lost both of his to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden - not that he would ever admit to losing an election in any way, shape, or form. Cleveland barely campaigned, while Trump enjoys it intensely. Trump is an infamous scandal denier, whereas Cleveland admitted to having had an affair from which another son, Oscar, was born. 

         However, both Presidents married younger women and they both considered using troops on Americans, with Cleveland actually calling out federal troops to put down the Pullman railcar strike, and President Trump hinting at this when it came to protesters in front of the White House. They both promised to clean up Washington, with Trump determined to "drain the swamp"; and President Cleveland's beef with then-corrupt Republicans enabling the defection to the Democrats of a splinter group of anti-corruption Republicans, also known as "Mugwumps".  Both relied/rely on a southern base of support for their political power. 

            Some American historians believe that when Cleveland decided to run in 1892, years after failing to have won a consecutive term in 1888, it was mainly because he was bored. In terms of Trump's motive for running again, this is mainly about his own vanity, highly motivated by revenge for his delusion that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether or not President Trump II will live up to the famous quote of former President Cleveland: "Officeholders are agents of the people, not their masters." 

    

               Trump having told reporters that if he hadn't had his head turned, the bullet would have hit him in the head rather than just an upper ear injury demonstrates incisive analysis in the aftermath of the assassination attempt. This is very far from his other characteristics, which for any of the American electorate with any objectivity whatsoever amount to a catalogue of reasons not to grant him the presidency again. When he was barred from X (formerly known as Twitter), as his own extreme way of circumvention, he created Truth Social. The very name exemplifies his pure subjectivity and self-centeredness. It is as if the soundtrack to any Trump-themed autobiographical movie would be This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Manic Street Preachers.

           During his first term, and in the build up to his potential second term, his comments about Ukraine demonstrate the that he has been and could end up becoming an even more significant useful idiot for Vladimir Putin. Childish jibes at rivals such as "Sleepy Joe", "crooked Hillary", and "Laffin Kamala" are probably within the mindset of the Republican party, such as his new running mate JD Vance. Once known for having disliked Trump intensely, his volte-face began just after the shooting. The irrational persecution complex is amply demonstrated via a posting on X: "The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination." 

             Former/ potential future President Trump has passed on one characteristic, so that his son is even more unhinged, claiming during a TV interview, "it's almost as if they would love for this to happen."  Numerous other Republicans have also spoken out to condemn President Biden and the Democrats for having created a rhetorical environment conducive to the violence. This is somehow ironic given the January 6th US Capital attack investigation - please excuse this writer's whataboutery. Donald Trump Jr. went on to add that after the assassination attempt, those on the left can no longer accuse the former president of culpability for the January 6th attack. What a load of total bollocks. Furthermore, the common Trump slogan, "they're not after me; they after you; I'm just in the way," is rabble-rousing claptrap.

             Regardless, the danger to democracy line of criticism by Democrats has been defused by this violent ear-clipping, which has reshaped the presidential campaign as a whole. It could give credence to the depiction of the Republican's candidate as being defiant and strong, contradicting the current President. This assassination attempt could have rendered the electorate to have become unobjectively tone deaf to the Democrats' depictions of Trump, despite there inevitably being less focus on Biden's age and mild panic about internal attempts to oust him. The lead that Trump has long had in the polls has been solidified, maybe even increased. The result in November could be even more of a dead-heat than that of 2020. Optimistically, that is the best that Biden could hope for, otherwise his opponent having had half of his upper-right ear shot off could end up being the key event that leads to a Trump victory.  

     

         Gun culture in the US is insurmountable. The right to self-protection and the "constaatoootion" have long disabled any semblance of reasonable discussion about gun culture, just diverting the discussion away to any possible motivation of any gunman. Deliberately ignoring the ease with which anyone can obtain and fire a gun has long prevented American society from considering every single aspect of the entire picture. 

          Besides gun culture/control and the Trump/Biden melodrama, there are widespread divisions which go beyond the old North v South, which dates from the Civil War. Political culture has gradually been degenerating to the level of outwardly hating an opponent. In addition to North and South, there are coastal and central, as well as urban and rural divisions. It could even be similar to the mentality of 1860, just without the slavery. Such societal deformity is easily aggravated because of the ease of access to the tools with which to blow someone's head of. Just calling for (or rather, demanding) that society reunites could only amount to bargain-basement electioneering blather.

           Tastefully demonstrating leadership without talking down to the electorate is the only way for any Biden or Trump to behave. Otherwise, open civil discussion could provide a role in preventing anyone from even considering becoming an amateur sniper, as such an individual could perceive that there is no other choice.