Here’s the thing: Trump’s politics do not stop with Trump. Killing him does not kill the fascistic movement he’s contributed greatly to, it has a life of it’s own, and even had he died today, whoever replaces him would still be peddling the same kinds of things, except they’d now have a martyr to rally Trump’s old fanbase around, one that, by virtue of being killed, many people are going to feel reluctant to criticize. As such, I feel that this attack, assuming it was politically motivated (and I figure the odds that someone shoots at Trump for reasons unrelated to his political agenda are quite slim, so it’s probably a safe assumption) was a mistake- I fear that it will have helped Trump’s agenda more than hurt it, and would have done so even if it was successful in killing him.
Now, Im not saying this to be one of those “violence is never the answer” types, I do recognize that there are situations where the only hope one has to survive an openly hostile political force is overwhelming violence; but it must be recognized that such an effort is extremely risky, it has significant drawbacks even if successful (such as setting a precedent legitimizing political violence, which anyone else may use, or causing collateral damage), and carries a significant risk that when the shooting stops, you’ll be on the losing end. As such, it really should be a last resort, and seeing as Trump isn’t even president yet, hasn’t even been voted in, and doesn’t yet have a legislature stacked up to ensure he can actually carry out his agenda, we’re not yet at the point where it is the only option left to stop him. Employing it now makes it more likely that we reach that point.
Trump is enough of a cult of personality that I think if he died (either through violence or natural causes), it would limit the effectiveness of the right wing. You are correct that it wouldn’t stop the problem. Project2025 wasn’t written by just him. There’s whole buildings full of assholes.
You may also be correct that this will motivate his fans, and that’s a net negative.
Also, I think the genie’s out of the bottle on political violence. There was already a coup attempt. If trump loses, I would be extremely surprised if there wasn’t violence. If he wins, people will suffer and die through policy. We’re not in a good spot.
Unfortunately, I cannot thanos snap away the far right.
Trump did kind of show Republicans that if you lean into your bullshit without flinching that no one will stop you. I think it’s hard to pull off for non-narcissists, though.
Remember “grab them by the pussy?” We all thought he was done after that, the media started circling for the inevitable play of contrition, which… never came. He just kept spouting bullshit, and it worked
That and voter suppression and probably foreign interference to destabilise the US
I think it’s hard to pull off for non-narcissists, though.
No, being visibly neurodivergent is terrible for your chances in politics unless you can lean in to the ND image. Look at how many people call Zuckerberg a robot or a lizard because he has visible autism. Elon kinda got away with leaning into the autism ND image for a while, but it didn’t do anything for him after he started openly being a Nazi, because the people who admire an openly autistic person aren’t Nazis. As a right wing political figure, being openly neurodivergent is terrible for your image, and that’s why Trump presents himself as a neurotypical. And while nobody can say for sure without actually evaluating him clinically, I think it’s fair to say his neurotypical straight cis male persona is genuine. Trump is not a member of a socially disabled vulnerable minority.
You’re not thinking evil and intelligent enough.
That cult propaganda is running full force. As a martyr Trump would shut the fuck up, making him much more useful, beginning with Republican reunification and spin at the convention next week.
The masses don’t like anyone near as much as they like Trump. I’m not saying they couldn’t find someone to rally behind, but there’s no one that stands out yet. This would hurt them in the general election, because there would be in-fighting and competing, and some general disarray. It is possible someone could emerge before the next election. Maybe they’d give Pudding Fingers another chance.
