By Art Jones
There was an attempted assassination of Donald Trump at an outdoor rally on the afternoon of July 13. All of the national television coverage the next day featured Republican and Democratic politicians– along with political pundits– expressing shock and surprise that such a horrific act could happen here in America.
Television news reporters chimed in, saying, “It is almost unthinkable that something like this would happen at such an event.” President Biden made a national announcement condemning the shooting and stating that “we cannot, we must not go down this road in America.” But if we step back for just a moment and look at this matter with clear eyes, no one should be all that surprised that a man who spent nearly a decade stirring the cauldron of divisiveness and hate should be the victim of his own rhetoric.
America is a violent nation. Violence is as American and natural as vanilla ice cream melting down a hot apple pie. America is a nation born in violence. From the American Revolution to the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the incessant annihilation of Native Americans, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the 20-year war in Afghanistan– and now–the conflict in Ukraine, America has proven itself to be a warrior nation.
From its inception to this very day, America has been actively engaged in no fewer than 108 serious military conflicts. When America is not busy trying to take land from Native Americans or Mexicans, it hones its nefarious creed by terrorizing African Americans. After Emancipation, African Americans had to endure over one hundred years of Jim Crow lynchings. It is documented that over 6,000 lynchings of black Americans occurred, individuals who were just trying to live their lives as decent human beings. Not one of these culprits has ever been brought to justice.
The United States is a little over 248 years old. Since the founding of this nation in 1776 to this very day in 2024, this country has only known a colossal 17 years of peace. That is less than one out of over 13 generations.
America is a warrior nation.
So let’s take a look at Trump. He has yet to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden. On Jan. 6, 2021, he incited an angry mob to launch an insurrection to end the U.S. governmental system. It cost the lives of five Capitol Hill police officers. Trump was never arrested for creating such a human tragedy.
Let it be clearly noted that if his predecessor had attempted anything like this he would be in prison today, serving a lengthy sentence for sedition and trying to overthrow the American government. At rallies, Trump urged attendees to commit violence on those who voiced opposition to his position.
Trump has said that if he loses the 2024 election, there would be a “bloodbath.”
During the last debate, he made it clear that the only way he would accept the results of this year’s election would be if he won.
John Kennedy never uttered such inflammatory words against Nixon in his run for the presidency in 1960. Yet, he was assassinated. His brother Robert never came close to spewing such highly bombastic rhetoric in 1968– yet, he too lost his life to gun violence. So, when are the politicians, news casters, and pundits voicing such shock and surprise that the cheerleader of violence in this country should be within the crosshairs of a would-be assassin?
Violence is in the DNA of the American nation. This maniacal desire to rape, plunder, subjugate and dominate all others has brought us to the events of Saturday. It is time this country acknowledged this fact about its history. Mr. Trump has provoked an intense climate of hate, a hatred far more potent than that which existed at the time of the tragic assassination of John Kennedy in November 1963. And as Malcolm X said of Kennedy’s death then, the same can be said to characterize the events surrounding the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in 2024: “The chickens have come home to roost.”
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