Every Sunday when I was a child, we eagerly awaited the delivery of the Sunday newspaper. It always included a feature with riveting pictures from previous editions.
They were not just a collage of all the pictures from previous editions.
They were selected by the newspaper’s editors thinking not so much on how timely they were at the present, but how timeless they might be going forward.
If that program was still in place today two pictures that most certainly would be selected would be from the 2024 presidential election campaign.
One is of former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump after an attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
In that surreal picture, Trump is being taken with a bloody hand on a wounded ear, blood on his face, and his other hand raised as a defiant fist from the event stage by Secret Service agents.
Another picture would be from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
In that picture, Trump is standing alone on a stage next to the helmet and bunker coat of Corey Comperatore, who was a volunteer firefighter and Trump supporter who attended the Pennsylvania rally.
Corey died shielding his family from the fusillade that almost killed Trump and seriously wounded two other rally attendees.
Prominently displayed next to Corey’s bunker coat and helmet is an American flag.
Trump appears to be gazing with deep contemplation of and reverence for the memorial for Comperatore.
In deeply divided America, both pictures are generating widely different reactions.
Some Trump detractors claim the assassination was preplanned to generate support for the Trump campaign. They have also implied Trump exiting the stage largely under his own power was done to show a stark contrast to a former opponent who often stumbled and needed assistance while walking.
Some Trump detractors claim the picture of Trump looking at the Comperatore’s memorial was staged for nothing more than to score political points. They question if Trump’s hand on the shoulder of the turnout coat was orchestrated and insincere.
Sadly, a significant number of seriously deranged Trump adversaries have posted messages on social media with messages like “sorry the shooter missed” and “hope he [Trump] is killed the next time.”
I found the vileness and hate in those messages so disturbing I couldn’t read all of them.
Not all those adversaries are radical fringe malcontents.
They also include a wide range of elected officials, celebrities, and political commentators who have regularly characterized and continue to characterize Donald Trump as a Nazi, a neo-Nazi, a fascist, a dictator wanna-be, and an existential threat to America.
Some Trump supporters believe the attempted assassination was a deep state conspiracy.
They maintain the spectacular failure of security at the event was by design.
They also believe constant inflammatory comments from Trump’s many adversaries created an environment where the question on an assassination attempt was not if, but when.
I am not going to engage a debate on the credibility on either side on these deeply held beliefs.
I am more concerned such debate affirms that an alarming and steady decline of civil dialogue in our society is the greatest existential threat to democracy in America.
In today’s intensely polarized political environment, it is considered normal and acceptable to disagree by being viciously disagreeable, to listen only to those who share and affirm that their views are the right views. Worst of all, we expect and accept the practice of demonizing anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with us on every issue all the time.
We desperately need a renewed national commitment to critical thinking, listening to others, avoiding group think, respect for differing opinions, and acceptance of a system of government where the majority rules, even when that can and does result in public policy decisions that do not have universal agreement.
Much easier said than done.
The underlying reality of where we are as a society is best captured by the cogent observation of veteran political communications consultant Frank Luntz: “It’s not what you say or write, it’s what people hear or read. You can have the best message in the world, but the person on the receiving end will always understand it through the prism of their own emotions, preconceptions, prejudices, and preexisting beliefs.”
In other words – my mind is made up. Don’t try to persuade me otherwise with facts.
When dealing with the deep divisions caused by the issue of slavery and the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand.”
America has been and is a house divided.
If we do not change course soon, we will not stand.
David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant who lives in Easton.
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