Attack on Donald Trump | Who benefits from the crime?

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Dave West and Rick Romboy may have been baseball fans since the 1950s, but the sun was a little too hot behind third base Sunday. They left the stadium after the fourth inning.

We talked about “what happened yesterday.”

“It’s because of Biden and all the horrible things they’re saying about Trump, that’s what it comes down to, and I hope people understand and it helps Trump win,” West said.

The 79-year-old former military policeman worked at the Cadillac plant, “back when the factories hadn’t all gone.” Romboy, a 76-year-old carpenter, immigrated from Germany in 1954 to a Milwaukee where German was still regularly spoken downtown. There’s a reason so much beer is brewed here.

They’re not shocked that Trump called Milwaukee a “horrible city,” if that’s the case. “It’s absolutely become a horrible city. It didn’t have as much crime and the schools suck,” Romboy said.

The violent crime rate in this city of 560,000 has dropped dramatically over the past two years. But when you’ve known “old Milwaukee,” those statistics are no consolation.

What is striking is the extent to which gun violence is integrated, digested, as soon as it arrives in this country.

“You know, I live in a town where there’s gunfire all the time,” Dan, 36, told me, who came to watch the game with Kassandra, 26. “Last week, someone got shot two houses down from me. But if you look at the numbers, there’s less violence. But there’s always going to be some.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine, there’s so much security, I think it’ll be OK for the campaign,” adds Kassandra, still delighted by this victory of the Brewers, leading in the Central division.

Raymond and Marian Etezel recently celebrated their 72nd birthday.^e wedding anniversary and their daughters took them to see the game.

“It’s lucky Mr. Trump didn’t die, because there would have been riots all over the country,” the World War II veteran said. “There have been turbulent times in the country, but this is one of the worst times, and I hope it brings him some sympathy.”

People, of course, mourned the attack, but they were not traumatized. The family baseball celebration was in no way tainted for the 35,000 spectators who came to see the former Expos (Nationals) get slammed.

Same games, same songs in the seventh inning – God Bless America, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Roll the Barrell…

While Republicans have accused Democrats of radicalizing the shooter, some Democrats have suggested on social media that the attack may have been a “setup.”

Several anti-Trump readers, who usually denounce his conspiracy theories, have written to me to raise this hypothesis as well. Because, they say, Donald Trump is benefiting from an unparalleled wave of solidarity. This attempted murder is in line with what he has been saying for a long time: he is being persecuted, the “Deep State” wants his skin, they want to prevent him from speaking, etc. This attack is a kind of bloody illustration of his political martyr discourse.

But of course, this conspiracy theory doesn’t hold water for two seconds. “Who benefits from the crime” may be a good question to ask in an investigation, but it doesn’t produce evidence. Even if some are already concluding that it will “win him the election.”

It would take quite a scenario for a sniper to send a projectile past his ear from over 100 meters away… Sniper shot down immediately. Not to mention that a man lost his life.

A photographer from New York Timesunknowingly, photographed the projectile behind Trump, taking the image at 1/8000^e of second.

Yes, Donald Trump did indeed almost die on Saturday. He was the victim of an attack. We don’t yet know why. And we can’t yet guess the consequences. But there are reasons to be concerned about the aftermath.

In April, I interviewed Daryl Johnson, around the release of the film Civil war. This former civilian employee of the American army became known 12 years ago as the author of a report for the Department of Homeland Security on the risks of terrorism in the United States.

He had concluded in a report based on monitoring of far-right extremist groups that violent political events were likely — this was before the plot to kidnap and assassinate the Michigan governor in 2020 and before the attack on the Capitol.

Last Wednesday, three days before the attack on Trump, he published an analysis of the current situation, estimating that “the United States is at a higher risk and is more vulnerable because of the erosion of its democratic bases and a higher probability of political violence”, coming from both the right and the left.

“It’s worrisome, but not surprising,” he told me by phone Sunday. “The rhetoric is inflammatory and the discourse is polarized.”

While waiting to know the motives of this “domestic terrorist”, he is now worried about possible retaliation from extremist groups.

Republicans and Democrats alike say that we need to “turn down the temperature” of political discourse. But by its very nature, a presidential election campaign is about turning up the heat, giving people a reason to vote and choose a candidate.

Republicans gathered here in convention are rewriting their speeches. It is clear that the attack will be at the center of the political narrative, if not in the background.

Joe Biden also called for a tone-down in front of the nation. But he did not fail to recall a series of acts of violence against Democrats – including Nancy Pelosi’s husband, who almost died, and whom Trump mocked. Just to say: it’s not my fault.

Now I’m really looking forward to seeing how he’ll speak to his supporters, since the heart of his message is the danger of Trump returning to the White House.

This crime will do no good for this already strained democracy.