By Athena Papakosta

We are 114 days away from the nation’s presidential election, and since the first shot early Sunday morning in Pennsylvania, the future of the United States has changed. Some will say that Donald Trump’s path back to the White House has opened wide, but others will wonder if the path he has opened is one that leads to more violence.

In recent years, political tension and political violence have been increasing, with American society remaining divided and polarized for many years.

Now the country often looks like a minefield. Some analysts point to the fact that the atmosphere is nothing like the general feeling that prevailed after the collective trauma of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981 or 9/11.

From the first moment after the attempted assassination of Trump, a series of conspiracy theories “smothered” the Social Media. Indicatively, some claim that the Democratic Party is responsible, while others wonder if the attack on Donald Trump was staged by his staff to boost his poll numbers.

“Many Americans see those they disagree with as the enemy who must (…) be threatened with violence or, ultimately, have violence used against him” noted journalist and CNN anchor Jake Tapper last night to describe the contemporary American political reality and called for this election to be marked by the result of the ballot box and not by… bullets.

Even a breath after the attack and as a bloodied Donald Trump walked away from the stage with members of the Secret Service for a shield, his gathered supporters – after first responding by rhythmically chanting “United States of America” ​​to the former president’s call to “fight” who raised his fist defiantly in the air – turned angrily to the cameras and raised their middle finger.

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump “confirms to voters the idea that something is not going well in the country – an idea that fuels support for Trump,” Brad Bannon, an analyst, explains to the American network, CNN.

The president of the United States immediately responded to the violence by saying that he is “grateful that Donald Trump is safe” adding that he is “praying for him and his family as well as “for everyone who was at the rally”.

But some from the Republican Party were quick to blame him for the attack on the former American president, showing him as a moral perpetrator who armed the hand of the only 20-year-old perpetrator, Thomas Matthew Crooks. “Joe Biden gave the instructions” Mike Collins, a member of the House of Representatives with the Republican party, pointed out, characteristically, on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

The occasion was also what Politico reported last week about the private conversation Mr. Biden had with his campaign sponsors during which, according to the publication, the president of the country is reported to have said: “I have a job and that is to beat Donald Trump. I am absolutely certain that I am the best suited to achieve this. So, enough of the debate. The time has come to make Trump a target.”

The motives of Thomas Matthew Crooks remain, at this time, unknown. So far, we know that although he was registered with the Republican rolls, he had made a donation of just $15 to a political committee that raises money for left-wing and Democratic politicians.

The attack he launched against Trump coincides with the biggest increase in political violence in the country in 4 decades. As reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, in 2023 alone, the Capitol Police launched an investigation into 8,008 threat assessment cases – 500 more than in 2022, while according to a poll last April for the American PBS network, one in five Americans believe they need to resort to violence to get their country back on track.

The key to the next day will be the rhetoric adopted by Donald Trump himself, who throughout his election campaign chose to reach the point to even warn of a “bloodbath” if not elected. So far, as he prepares for the Republican convention in Milwaukee, he remains united, saying “right now, it’s more important than ever that we stand together and show our true character as Americans by staying strong and determined.”

Biden continues to keep a low tone, who this morning, referring from the Oval Office and to the attacks that have been received by Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home in San Francisco, called for calm while trying (*because he succumbed to a blunder again baptizing the ballot box, battle box) to explain that Americans resolve their differences by voting and not by violence in the streets.