How all Americans should respond to July 13
A guide for all concerned Americans in the aftermath of July 13, 2024.
On the evening of July 13, at a pro-Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a lone gunman opened fire with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle from a rooftop approximately 400 feet away from Trump, killing one civilian, seriously injuring others, and clipping Trump’s right ear. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired only a few rounds before Secret Service counter sniper teams returned fire and killed him.
Crooks was a lone young adult male, highly intelligent, who classmates said was “bullied every day” in school, and whose hobbies included guns and explosives. He was a registered Republican who belonged to several firearms groups/clubs and enjoyed shooting.
Conspiracy theories immediately flooded Left and Right political spaces online. Those on the left worried that it was a pre-staged false flag event intended to turn Trump into a kind of martyr or to justify future dictatorial power grabs and future violence against liberals. Those on the right worried that Biden himself sent the orders to assassinate Trump. In the absence of early details and without much information to go on, experts were unable to counter these or other conspiracies as they continued to spread online across the political spectrum.
Despite these and other popular assumptions, however, investigators still have no clear evidence of any political motive at this time. The shooter also has no known ties to any political extremist group, either foreign or domestic, right or left. President Biden has kindly asked all Americans to refrain from making any further assumptions and to remain patient as we collect more details and evidence to understand what happened and why.
Most politicians across the political spectrum responded ethically to the shooting, imploring Americans to remain calm and help us lower the national temperature on politics while we investigate the incident. This was the right thing to see from politicians on both sides. A much smaller number of politicians did not do this, and instead used the event to further divide Americans.
Both Biden and Trump paused fundraising and donations immediately after the event. This was the correct move as well, as it sends a united signal that political violence has no place on the U.S. political spectrum.
Biden quickly called Trump to check on his health and then immediately put out a series of public messages disavowing violence and asserting that violence has no place in American political discourse. This, also, was the right thing to do, and sends the right message to Americans across the political spectrum, many of whom are scared, confused, and distrustful of “the other side” especially during times like this.
Less than two days after the event, we’re seeing good signs from political leadership that they’re taking the issue of violence seriously and responding accordingly. Democrats, in a show of good faith, are already proposing improved Secret Service security for Donald Trump. All of these are good signs, good enough to drown out the much smaller number of politicians seeking to capitalize on the attack.
The American people themselves, for their part, are going to have to remain calm about this. The pending federal investigations (and yes there will be several, not just one) are going to take a while, and details will emerge slowly. I know we all feel the impulse to understand this event in its entirety, and to pass swift judgement about it one way or another, but the actual facts and details remain scarce, and those details are not going to emerge all at once. This is going to be a gradual process. We need to remain calm and patient, and to refrain from making sweeping judgements or negative assumptions about our fellow Americans in the absence of hard evidence.
What we can do in the meantime, as President Biden said, is to continue helping “lower the temperature” on national politics. You can help us do this no matter who you are or what “side” you’re on. These are the questions every American should ask of themselves, in sincere personal reflection, as we wait impatiently for more details to come forward:
1) Take some time to reflect honestly and critically on how you engage with your fellow Americans in civic life across the spectrum, but especially how you engage with people you disagree with. Are you being the best version of yourself in these interactions, or is there room for improvement, and what could you do better?
2) Reflect also on what kind of country you envision as your ideal, on what kind of country you’d like to leave behind for your kids. Is that a divided, hateful and violent country, or is it a peaceful, prosperous and united country?
3) Which of these two opposing visions do your own words and your own actions move us closer towards? Does your answer to 1 move us closer towards your answer for 2, or does it take us further away from it? What changes can you make within yourself to better align your own behavior with the society that you envision?
4) What can you do within your own spaces and in the communities that you belong to in order to help move our whole society towards that better vision of peace and prosperity, away from violence, anger and fear? How can you help those around you do this, even those with opposing political beliefs?
Finally, above all else, we should keep in mind that this is a terrifying moment for many Americans. If your goal is to combat that fear, then you must first understand it. Americans of all political beliefs and identities are afraid right now, each for their own reasons. Many of your own neighbors, coworkers, friends and family might be scared, but this applies also to those you casually disagree with in the comments of an online post or article. Be calm, kind, understanding, patient and tolerant. Be open to learning and to listening, even if you do not share the same views. In turn, be unafraid to share your own fears. In doing so, you might realize you’re not as different from the person you’re arguing with as you had assumed.
Recognize that everyone’s fear right now is valid and legitimate. Reach out to the people who you disagree with in fellowship, not in hostility, and let them know that you care. Remind them — and yourself — that we are each other’s co-citizens, and that our most sacred obligation to ourselves, to each other and to our country is to find a way to live happily together in peace instead of violence.