It is a sad reality that political assassinations in the United States of America are not rare. Most people think of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy as the main examples of political assassinations in US history. But there were others who were assassinated, like Mckinley and Bobby Kennedy Jr, and even more candidates and Presidents who had attempts made on their lives.
This is an incredible breakdown of almost everything that happened before, during and after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, from multiple camera angles and footage currently available. pic.twitter.com/DcOObI2bGb
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 15, 2024
The phenomenon of attempted political assassination in the USA goes back more than 200 years to the time of President Andrew Jackson, and probably even beforehand. But most phenomenon from the early years of the United States are irrelevant today. Not so with attempts on the lives of Presidential candidates.
One would assume that most of the assassinations or attempts would be against controversial Presidents or candidates. But even that has not been the case. Gerald Ford, arguably the least controversial President of the 20th century, had two attempts on his life.
Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. Why? The general assumption is that Hinckley did it to impress Jodi Foster. Only a psychiatrist would be able to connect those two dots. Jodi Foster was not impressed. Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Bobby Kennedy Jr. right as Kennedy seemed poised to win the Democratic nomination for President in 1968. Why? The massively controversial issue at the time was Vietnam, and Kennedy supported a pullout. But Sirhan said nothing about Vietnam when he was interrogated. He was mad about Kennedy’s support of Israel. He assassinated Kennedy on the one year anniversary of Israel’s huge victory in the 1967 Six Day War. Kennedy’s support of Israel was probably not even a Top 5 issue for Kennedy. But it may have cost him his life.
Most assassins are nutjobs with strong violent streaks from disrupted childhoods. The logic is simply not there in so many cases. It actually has little to do with the President himself. So the onus falls on the Secret Service to protect all rather serious candidates.
But there are indeed differences between the causes of various assassination attempts. The Pope, Anwar Sadat, and Ronald Reagan were all shot in a span of a few years in the early 80’s. The motives were clearly different in these instances. The motive for the shooter of the Pope is arguably the most unclear of the three, but it certainly had a significant anti-Christian motive. Hinckley was trying to get Jodi Foster’s attention. However Sadat was killed by a group of radical Islamists within the Egyptian Army who objected to his peace treaty with Menachem Begin in 1979. It was there perfect example of an ideological assassination.
Donald Trump is one of the most polarizing Presidents in recent memory. That is one of the reasons that mention of his name evokes so much emotion. He is such a one-of-a-kind polarizing figure that the odds are high that there will be further attempts on his life by political opponents who believe that he must be stopped at all cost.
The United States of America may be a forward looking Western country and the leader of the free world. But political changes still occasionally happen in America via violent means. The Secret Service ought to be beefed up around Donald J. Trump.