EDITORIAL: Climate of violence

The last time a fanatic tried and failed to assassinate Donald Trump, clipping his ear after firing several rounds from a rooftop at an outdoor rally in mid-July, the Republican presidential candidate’s poll numbers improved.

It remains to be seen whether the latest apparent attempt on his life — a man with a rifle was arrested on Sunday after being spotted hiding in shrubbery at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf resort — will have the same effect given that he never got within range of the former US president.

Even so, it is worth asking why there have been two attempts to kill Trump in less than two months. It is not, as some in his circle have suggested, because Democrats have incited left-wing extremists to violence with their anti-Trump rhetoric. It is apparent that both potential assassins in fact had conservative backgrounds and were Trump supporters before becoming disillusioned with his brand of politics.

A far more likely explanation is that Trump has not only actively courted right-wing extremists, but also has a habit of discarding them when they have served their political purpose, alienating countless mentally unstable and potentially violent individuals.   

Political discourse in the US has deteriorated markedly since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic contender, and Trump’s poll numbers dipped below hers, worsened by social media algorithms that create narrative silos and prevent radicalised individuals from being exposed to more balanced viewpoints.

With less than two months to go before the US presidential election, the odds of there being a third assassination attempt before November 5 — on either Trump or Harris — are therefore worryingly high.