While I was watching the ongoing news reports on the assassination attempt of former President Donald J. Trump recently, I was simultaneously scrolling through social media posts on X.
The repulsive vitriol was and continues to be ever-present. Although President Joe Biden had the best intentions in his plea for unity during his address to the nation that following Sunday, it appears that we have reached a political breach that is almost beyond reconciliation.
The fact that we came close to witnessing the murder of a former president on live television should result in a solemn moment of reflection on how the fractured and polarized nature of our politics is breeding grave violence. Like many Americans, I am praying for the family of Corey Comperatore, a beloved father and fireman who died from his gunshot wounds, as well as the surviving shooting victims, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, whose medical conditions have been upgraded from critical to serious. Those of us who believe in the power of Christ through prayer should also lift up the family of the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who at just 20 years old made a deranged decision that cut his life short.
Although we continue to hear ongoing calls for national unity in the wake of Trump’s near-brush with death, unfortunately these appeals will fall on a lot of deaf ears. Some striking images that blatantly stood out when the news cameras panned the chaos in the Butler, Pa. crowd were the people shouting F-bombs at the media as Secret Service agents rushed Trump off the stage.
It is quite obvious that there is no love lost between Biden and Trump. They did not even shake hands before their debate last month. The terse cordialness between the two after Trump’s Butler rally did move Biden to temporarily pull his campaign ads, but with the Republican National Convention ending we are already back to election business as usual. The upcoming political ads that we will see on TV and in our social media feeds are not going to “cool (the rhetoric) down” as Biden urged.
Biden described his phone call to Trump as “short and respectful” after the Butler shooting, and I think all of us would settle for normal short and respectful interactions at this point between these two presidential candidates and both parties.
It seems as if the days are long gone of authentic friendships between Republicans and Democrats like the one President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. shared during the 1980s. Back then, I was too young to understand and appreciate this genuine example of polite and civil politics. Many years later, I would learn that when Reagan survived the assassination attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981, O’Neill was one of the first people to visit him in the hospital and pray by his bedside.
There are more recent examples of mutual respect between politicians who had strong ideological disagreements with each other that include Biden and the late Sen. John McCain and former President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. I truly wish our young people could see more partisan illustrations of working to find common ground in Washington today.
In his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump said that “thhe discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart.”
His earnest words were similar to Biden’s appeal, when the president maintained that we are not “enemies” but “neighbors, friends and coworkers.”
However, for any honest healing to be manifested in America I am reminded of the prudent words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who taught that “love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us that Godly love is patient and kind and not envious and boastful. Love doesn’t hold grudges and “always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.”
If we are going to persevere and strive to tone down the toxic, political contempt in our nation, it must begin with simply showing love to one another. The attempt on Trump’s life is a warning that we will be in a much more dangerous state if the love of many continues to wax cold.
Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at The Ohio State University-Lima. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @JjSmojc. Her opinion does not necessarily represent the views of The Lima News or its owner, AIM Media.
