U.S. politics more bizarre by the day

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This article was published 24/07/2024 (473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former British prime minister Harold Wilson once quipped that “a week is a long time in politics.”

But the more I pay attention to the news stateside, the more I believe we should make that week a day.

Our attention is shifted with each new sensational headline, as fresh news from south of the border breaks like waves on our shores.

Recently, we went from hearing powerful Democrats and influential celebrities call for U.S. President Joe Biden to get out of the race after his disastrous performance in a presidential debate with Donald Trump on June 27, to seeing Biden morph into the at-least-somewhat steady hand on the tiller as the country reeled in the immediate aftermath of a sniper’s attempt on Trump’s life.

On Sunday, Biden dropped out of the race.

What a difference a day makes.

Forget the insurrection-inciting, autocrat-aspiring, narcissistic woman-grabbing, Hannibal Lecter-admiring, hush-money felon; Trump has now emerged with bandaged ear and blazing glory in the eyes of many: a former president claiming God on his side, having taken a bullet for the cause, even though taking a bullet for any cause — or no cause at all — is a daily occurrence in the U.S.

I will admit my own cynicism upon hearing that Trump had been shot. After I learned he wasn’t injured seriously, I couldn’t help but think it would win him points on the hustings.

I disliked myself for that; despite his serious failings and moral recklessness, this was a former president who had come perilously close to death. But once I took a scroll through the social media platform now known as X, I felt absolved.

What I found there was a seething hotbed of nastiness and deep-rooted paranoia. It was a red-letter day for conspiracy theorists on all sides of the political playbook as they pumped out their posts, seizing on each new shred of information like piranhas in a feeding frenzy.

Comments like this one from @DogginTrump were typical: “If Trump was injured by a bullet, why did he go golfing today? Which tells me he wasn’t hit by a bullet & he’s lying.”

There were allegations that the 20-year-old would-be assassin was a literal fall guy, placed there by Trump’s team to make the former president look heroic. (Does that presume the attendee who was killed shielding his family and the two others who were wounded were collateral damage or volunteers in this great scheme?)

Others contended the Biden administration orchestrated the shooting, or — more specifically — that first lady Jill Biden had ordered it.

“I’m calling it now — Jill Biden orchestrated a hit on Trump,” @MasonJayJay69 posted. “After that debate everyone, especially democrats, is calling for Biden to withdrawal from the race. The motive is absolutely there, it REEKS of desperation.”

Video of Trump’s appearance at the first day of the Republic National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15 was scrutinized frame by frame online, like prospectors panning for gold — or dreck.

Some posted purported photos of Trump from the convention floor, his right ear miraculously healed and whole, when in fact the former president attended with his injured ear heavily bandaged.

Meanwhile, delegates at the convention — some sporting their own ear bandages with cultish devotion — were lustily chanting “Fight! Fight!” echoing Trump’s own rallying cry moments after he was shot. At one exhibition booth, some of them scanned a QR code with their phones, hoping to win a free AR-15 rifle, the same kind used by the failed assassin.

A Rolling Stone reporter asked the representative at the booth whether such a giveaway was a good idea, given… you know. She replied that the July 13 shooter “chose to use it for something really terrible,” but in reality, the assault rifle is “one of the most effective and important tools that we have (to defend ourselves).”

I couldn’t help but be struck by the blasé headline I saw in the Tallahassee Democrat on July 15: “Trump shot with AR-15-style gun. What is an AR-15, and why are they so popular?” — as if the subject matter was one-bite brownies or the hottest trend in smash burgers.

Why are they so popular, indeed.

I found it sadly ironic that in his speech to the nation after Trump was wounded, Biden said, “There is no place in America for this kind of violence.”

Because precisely this kind of violence happens in America all the time. The difference is, the target is not always a sitting or former president of the United States.

Often, it’s schoolchildren.

And so, democracy in the U.S. hangs by a thread as the sun sets on another news day, while the Internet meme-masters chortle at their clever new works, and the social media trolls pass the popcorn.

Pam Frampton is a freelance writer and editor who lives in St. John’s. Email pamelajframpton@gmail.com X: pam_frampton