Attack on Trump Lays Bare the Stakes of This Election

As Tom Klingenstein has been tirelessly explaining for years, America is in the midst of an ideological war for the soul of the nation. Saturday’s heinous attack on Donald Trump is just the latest example of the terrible lengths to which the left is willing to go in order to emerge victorious.

The lines of the conflict are simple and clear. The left believes that America is fundamentally evil and needs to be destroyed. The right believes that America is fundamentally good and needs to be preserved. These views are irreconcilable, and the stakes are incredibly high.

This ideological difference entails a difference in methodology. While the right seeks to preserve, de-weaponize, and restore the major institutions of American life through the power of the voting booth, the left continually justifies any means necessary to fundamentally transform a nation they see as irredeemable. Institutional and personal destruction, and even outright political violence, are in their view as legitimate and justified as any other type of political action.

The attempted assassination of President Trump, and the indiscriminate murder and wounding of his supporters in the crowd, are just the latest examples of this trend. Overtures from left-wing politicians suggesting we “turn down the temperature” or “foster national unity” are medicines prescribed, sadly, far too late.

The left has weaponized every institution in the country against Trump, even to the point of attempting to throw him in prison. They have explicitly, repeatedly justified this weaponization in near-apocalyptic terms — Trump, they say, is practically the second coming of Hitler. They profess to believe that Trump’s re-election would represent an authoritarian takeover of the United States and the end of democracy as we know it. Is it any surprise that those who believe them respond in this way?

It isn’t just random crazies either. According to a University of Chicago study, as many as 30 million people in America believe that physical violence is justified to prevent Trump from returning to the Oval Office. And this support for violence is echoed in the highest echelons of every institution the left controls.

Just consider, for example, that left-wing NGOs literally gamed out a military coup, accompanied by widespread street violence, in the event of Trump’s re-election in 2020. This was in the midst of a whole summer of widespread street violence in America’s cities, explicitly and vocally egged on by every major left-wing leader. 

Or look at the situation in the universities, which are also controlled almost totally by the left. Forty-five percent of all undergrads, and nearly 60% of those who are “very liberal,” believe physical violence is justified to prevent people from “espousing their hateful views.” This past year, elite colleges have become hotbeds of anti-Semitic violence, with professors and their students rallying in defense — and celebration— of the indiscriminate rape and murder of Israeli civilians.

Or look at the pundit class. David Frum, writing Sunday in The Atlantic — as good a barometer for left-wing intellectual sentiment as any — essentially argues that Trump is reaping the same just desserts that any other “fascist” would deserve. This “reaping of the whirlwind” mentality was seen in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision as well, with multiple fire-bombings of churches and crisis pregnancy centers across the country, along with a barely averted attempt on the life of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. All this was met with only muted reactions from Democratic leadership.

Political leaders have been central to all of this. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson — no back-bencher — introduced a bill earlier this year to strip Secret Service protection from Trump in the event of his conviction. And the Biden administration has, whether out of malice or out of cold political calculation, steadfastly refused to extend Secret Service protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It’s hard to justify any of this unless they think their opponents deserve whatever harm may come their way.

President Trump understands the stakes of this battle. His immediate response — and that of the crowd — after a bullet came within an inch of ending his life shows that he has exactly the right temperament to be the commander-in-chief at this perilous moment in our nation’s history. Political pundits have dismissed these reactions in sneering tones as more symbol than substance. But symbols are at their most powerful when they point to something central and urgent, which these symbols certainly did. 

As President Trump raised his fist and rallied his supporters to continue the fight, he demonstrated that he understands the stakes of the ideological battle taking place. And as the crowd responded with chants of “USA,” it made clear exactly what this battle is about. America itself is the target of a radical and violent campaign meant to undermine and destroy it entirely. Trump is simply the central figure standing in their way. 

In this moment, it is every American’s sacred duty to fight in our nation’s defense — not with violence or bullets or any of the cynical tactics of the desperate left, but with our voices and political efforts, our votes and prayers. It is precisely because these tactics are more powerful than anything on Earth — because America’s founding principles were not just pleasant sentiments but deep and abiding truths — that the left is so scared of them. It is fear of these tactics and their potency that leads the left to demonize, marginalize, and de-platform Trump. And it is this fear that drives certain zealots among them to feel that a peaceful political rally calls for gunfire and bloodshed in response.

Let’s pray this latest act of violence spurs peace-loving Americans to realize the necessity of making November a turning point in this ideological war.