Political violence is spiraling out of control.
I don’t care which party you identify with. I don’t care if you like or dislike Donald Trump. This has been building for years, and perhaps we’ve become as inured to it as we have with most mass shootings.
The most prominent example, of course, is the two assassination attempts against the president. On the shooting in Butler, Pa. that grazed his ear, Trump would not have survived if he hadn’t been turning his head to point to a chart. The second attempt was foiled by the Secret Service.
More than 60 years after the death of JFK, a would-be assassin’s bullet nearly changed the course of the 2024 election by taking out the man who would go on to win a second term in the White House. The photo of Trump, with a bloodied face, raising his fist became iconic.
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It’s rather embarrassing that the press moved on so quickly after a few days.
Even more cringe-worthy was the way the media provided scant coverage of the man who was determined to kill Brett Kavanaugh in 2022. He had driven from California and was a block away from the Supreme Court justice’s Maryland home – with a Glock pistol, two magazines of ammunition, a knife, pepper spray and zip ties – when he called police and turned himself in.
The would-be murderer just pleaded guilty last week.
This has been going on since President Clinton tried to blame Rush Limbaugh for the Oklahoma City bombing. And since the New York Times blamed Sarah Palin for a crosshairs map never seen by the shooter who killed six people and wounded Gabby Giffords in Arizona. A retrial of her defamation suit is about to get under way.
When a liberal shooter who liked Rachel Maddow opened fire at a Republican baseball practice in Virginia, badly wounding GOP leader Steve Scalise, the finger-pointing began again. Inevitably, each side tries to score political points based on the perceived motive of the shooter.
And that brings me to the attempt to kill Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on the first day of Passover. The governor, who is Jewish. His family and friends are lucky to be alive.
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It is frightening. It is infuriating. It is the epitome of anti-Semitism. The Harrisburg mansion, where Shapiro, his wife Lori and children live, was set on fire, and the 38-year-old arsonist admitted to police that he set the fires.
Imagine being woken up by state police at 2 a.m., with the smell of smoke in the air, and told that you, your family and friends must immediately evacuate. Who wouldn’t feel vulnerable, no matter their title?
The only reason they survived is that they were sleeping in another part of the mansion, which the arsonist had no way of knowing. The building remains badly damaged.
Shapiro was clearly and justifiably angry when he said: “This type of violence is not okay. I don’t give a damn if it’s from one particular side or another. It’s not okay.”
The governor pointed out that it was the first night of Passover and members of the local Jewish community had been celebrating with him in the state dining room. “No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly or proudly,” he declared.
Ironically, it was Shapiro who led the investigation of the attempted assassination of Trump at Butler, where a man in the crowd was killed.
The president has been posting up a storm at Truth Social, including messages on Easter Week and Passover, but hasn’t said a word about Shapiro.
I think Trump should call Shapiro as a way of demonstrating that he deplores political violence no matter which party is involved. FBI Director Kash Patel did call, but that’s not at the same level.
The Harrisburg man told police he was “harboring hatred” for Shapiro and had he found him, he would have beaten the governor with his hammer.
His mother told the AP he was mentally ill.
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At the Free Press, Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Penn., a Republican who supports Trump, said:
“When Governor Josh Shapiro and I spoke on Saturday afternoon about a potential data center investment in Pennsylvania, he ended the call by noting that he needed to go prepare for an 80-person seder which he was leading. Less than 12 hours later, he and his family were evacuated from the governor’s residence, because an arsonist had set it on fire.
“The pictures of the damage to the residence are horrifying. Yet even more frightening is the trend that this attack is a part of. And if left unchecked, this trend — of using political violence to settle our differences — has the potential to destroy our republic.”
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Now, it must be said the security was awful. This guy scales the fence and the state troopers on duty can’t stop him from reaching the mansion? And then let him get away?
As for journalists, we should resist the temptation to say, well, Shapiro wasn’t hurt, let’s move on. A Jewish governor was targeted and nearly assassinated. That’s not a one-day story by any stretch of the imagination.
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