Zeteo: Let's Not Forget, Trump Is Still Trump........................
Zarook Qasim
Let's Not Forget, Trump Is Still TrumpI'm thankful the ex-president is safe, but he and his party are not benign forces, and their threat to democracy remains.
On April 4, 1968, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy delivered a pitch-perfect message to a mostly Black crowd in Indianapolis just learning that an assassin had killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He understood the temptations of rage from the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. But he summoned gentler emotions. “What we need in the United States is not division,” Kennedy said. “What we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be Black.” Two months later, another assassin killed Sen. Kennedy. I thought of his remarks as I listened to President Joe Biden’s Sunday address seeking calm after the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump. Like Kennedy, Biden struck the right tone. Let us hope every American heeds his admonition to “never descend into violence.” Yet our history has proven over and over that words from political leaders cannot stop deranged individuals with guns. Four presidents assassinated, two former presidents wounded, and the candidates and members of Congress crippled make that clear. Nor can Saturday’s terrible violence alter the underlying reality of the nation’s political predicament. Voters now face a choice between the diminished 81-year-old incumbent and his dangerous 78-year-old predecessor. The Threat to the Rule of Law Remains The shooting momentarily quieted an agonizing debate within the Democratic Party about its nominee... |
