By a twist of fate, and the slight turn of a head, a would-be assassin's bullet grazed Donald Trump's ear instead of ending his life. It was a harrowing moment for our country, yet impossible not to look at through a political lens. People on the left can't even deny the powerful image of a bloodied Trump triumphantly raising his fist in the air after nearly being killed, and the impact it is likely to have on this election.
As Trump supporters rally behind him, the situation also has proven to be blessing for Joe Biden, as the push to replace him as the Democratic Party's nominee for 2024 has come to a halt.
After nearly two weeks of non-stop coverage of Biden's collapsing campaign, the shooting took the Democratic Party's turmoil off the front pages and killed the momentum behind the effort to replace him in one fell swoop.
It may not have been exactly how Biden would have liked it to happen, because clearly the incident is likely to galvanize support behind Trump, but elected Democrats were slowly but surely coming out, raising concerns about his candidacy or calling for him to drop out, and it's hard to see how he could have survived much longer. I suspect before long, even the donors who were refusing to donate money unless Biden left the ticket will fall back in line and the money will start flowing again.
One Biden ally described the situation to NBC News, saying, "I think it’s over. You just lose all momentum."
“They were having a very bad political day, and then we had this supernova event. Now, it’s frozen,” a longtime Democratic strategist added. “If you’re an advocate for: ‘How do we tell the old man it’s time to go?’ — it’s really hard to have that conversation publicly. This event blocks out the sun right now.”
The White House is clearly aware of the dramatic shift in the dynamics of this race as a result of the assassination attempt, and is trying to mold it into a moment of presidential leadership. Joe Biden was promptly brought out hours after the incident, and then spoke to the nation again Sunday afternoon.
"An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a na- — as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen," he said. "Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is important than that right now — unity."
Related: Man Predicted Trump's Assassination Attempt With Incredible Detail... Months Ago
"We’ll debate, and we’ll disagree. That’s not — that’s not going to change. But it’s going to — we’re going to not lose sight of the fact of who we are as Americans," he continued. "Look, Vice President Harris and I were just briefed in the Situation Room by my homeland security team, including the director of the FBI, the secretary of Homeland Security, the attorney general, the director of the Secret Service, my homeland security advisor, the national security advisor. And we’re going to continue to be briefed."
This is the same man who said a week ago that "it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” and said earlier this month that “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He's a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He's literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
That is the kind of rhetoric that got us to this point. What we are witnessing is the White House (and by extension, the Biden campaign) in a sort of damage control. Sure, Biden is safe from an internal Democratic Party coup, but now his handlers are desperately trying to manage this situation politically by calling for unity and pretending to be managing this crisis.
As if to prove my point, on Sunday afternoon, the White House posted a photo of both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House Situation Room—a photo op clearly designed to show Joe Biden in command and in charge.
It was transparently self-serving.
Who in the White House thought it was a great idea to try to turn the attempted assassination of Donald Trump into a leadership moment for Biden? https://t.co/3Z20pCrhzB
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) July 14, 2024
Frankly, it's disgusting to see the way the White House has changed its tone. They may be doing the right thing, but for the wrong reasons, and that doesn't absolve them for the hateful and violent rhetoric they've been pushing for years.
