The assassination attempt on the former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on Saturday marks the latest chapter in the country’s long and blood-stained tryst with political violence. There is concern that the incident could even fundamentally upend the presidential election campaign ahead of the November vote. The attack by a sniper on Mr Trump while he was addressing a campaign rally came after months of heated rhetoric by both his supporters and those of President Joe Biden — the two men are expected to face off in the presidential race. Each side has portrayed the other not just as an ideological opponent but as an existential threat to American democracy itself. Since the shooting incident, in which Mr Trump was injured, one rally attendee was killed, and two others were wounded, both Mr Biden and Mr Trump have called for unity. Their parties and campaigns have signalled that they might seek to lower the temperature of the rhetoric that they use against the other. Yet, how long this pause in political aggression lasts is unclear given that a closely contested election is less than four months away.

The US is no stranger to political violence, or, for that matter, the culture of gun violence that is often fetishised in popular culture: four presidents have been killed in office as have presidential candidates. Others have survived assassination attempts. But in most cases in recent decades, the attacks have been seen as deviant acts that did not represent the state of the political climate. That is what makes the attempt on Mr Trump’s life different. Both Democrats and Republicans have presented the November election almost as the last chance for Americans to save their nation from the other. Mr Trump is expected to be formally anointed his party’s candidate this week. The image of Mr Trump standing up seconds after the shooting, his fist raised, blood streaking down his cheek, is expected to cement the advantage he appears to hold over Mr Biden in key states. Meanwhile, the incident has also put a lid, for now, on calls from within the Democratic Party for Mr Biden to step aside because of concerns over his age. Yet, those gains for the candidates pale before the risks the US faces. It does face an existential choice, but not the one the two candidates often present: the
country has just dodged a far more grievous injury. How it responds could heal its wounds or deepen them.