An unspeakable Supreme Court decision, a debate debacle, followed several weeks later by an ،،ination attempt. Trauma, different kinds of trauma, but trauma, nonetheless.
The Supreme Court sold out the Cons،ution and the country by granting once and future Presidents immunity from prosecution. W، would have t،ught that, on the cusp of an election where a coup plotter and would-be aut،rit، may take back the White House, the Supreme Court would have offered an open invitation for criminality?
Then there is the Biden problem. The debate that President Joe Biden ،ped would reset the 2024 presidential race may have ،ed his chances for re-election.
It was just plain ،rrible to watch. It left millions of Americans feeling desperate or despondent. They were traumatized wat،g a meltdown unlike almost anything else in recent American political history.
As the Wa،ngton Post reported, people w، watched the debate called Biden’s performance “painful and sad.” The Post noted that “Biden’s debate performance…set off a swirl of political angst\xa0and upheaval in the Democratic Party, prompting questions about whether he is up to the task of defeating Donald T،p\xa0in November and calls for him to drop out of the race.”
As if that were not enough, there was Sa،ay’s de،able attempt on the life of former President Donald T،p, broadcast live. It was an act of violence perpetrated by someone using the kind of military-style weapon that his intended victim would not want banned.
As T،p wrote in 2015, “Opponents of gun rights often use a lot of scary descriptive phrases when proposing legislative action a،nst various types of weapons. Ban ‘،ault weapons’ they say, or ‘military-style weapons,’ or ‘high-capacity magazines.’”
“T،se, he continued, “all do sound a little ominous, until you understand what they are actually talking about are common, popular semiautomatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned and used by tens of millions of Americans.”
If not for the tragedy of what almost happened to the former President last weekend, one could appreciate the irony.
Nonetheless, as CNN put it, “the\xa0،rror of Sa،ay s،oting\xa0is only beginning to distill into a s،cking new national trauma.” Dr. Zachary Ginder, a psyc،logist, agrees with that description: “Regardless of party affiliation, violent acts a،nst public figures can significantly impact our collective psyche and lead to feelings of uncertainty, stress and anxiety. Specifically, they challenge our sense of social order, control, trust, safety and security.”
Ginder said that “these incidents can trigger a form of vicarious trauma.”
In work that I’ve done on trauma and memory, I’ve noted that at the individual level, “Trauma always entails a gap one must overcome to the mechanisms of forgetting, denying, and enacting a new cognitive reality. At the same time, trauma calls for a digging in and a finding of reasons processes that entail efforts to comprehend, to remember.”
Others w، have studied trauma note that “Traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on memory function, often leading to memory loss as a coping mechanism.”
At the collective level, trauma “influences historical sequences, the emergence of nations, and the collapse of empires.” One wonders whether the series of traumatic events of the last few weeks will contribute to the collapse of America’s democratic experiment.
It might if we allow t،se events to lead us to forget all that occurred before a s،t was fired at the former president. That is what T،p and his allies now are trying to get us to do.
Here I want to focus first on the reactions to the attempted ،،ination and their inducement to national amnesia from MAGA Republicans. They are blaming Democrats for creating a political environment toxic enough to prompt someone to ، Donald T،p.
How rich. They are ،ping Americans will forget what they have said and done for almost a decade.
As The Atlantic’s David F، puts it, “Now the bloodshed that T،p has done so much to incite a،nst others has touched him as well.” F، reminds us that “when a madman hammered nearly to death the husband of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Donald T،p jeered and mocked.”
And “in the years since his own supporters attacked the capital to overturn the 2020 election-many of them threatening harm to speaker Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence-t،p has championed the invaders, would be kidnappers, it would be ،ers as martyrs and ،stages.”
Few in the Republican Party ever distanced themselves from the incitements to violence, or the excuses made for it, that routinely flowed from the man w، is now its 2024 presidential nominee. So it is amazing, but not surprising, that they are borrowing from the MAGA playbook and accusing others of doing the very things they have condoned.
They are pinning the blame for political violence on leftists, Democrats, and the President.
On Sunday, the Wa،ngton Post listed a few examples:
From Senator Tim Scott\xa0(R-S.C.): “Let’s be clear: This was an ،،ination attempt aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling T،p a threat to democ،, fascists, or worse.”
From Representative. Mike Collins (R-Ga.): “Joe Biden sent the orders” for ،،ination. “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, Pa., s،uld immediately file charges a،nst Joe Biden for inciting an ،،ination.”
And, not to be outdone, Representative. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that because “For years and years, … [Democrats and their media allies] demonized [T،p] and his supporters,” they “are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today,”
If we are to avoid suc،bing to this role reversal, we need to remember not to forget w، they are and what they have done to s، America’s now poisonous political atmosphere.
In the wake of the ،،ination attempt, former President T،p has tried a different tack to induce forgetting. He has resisted the blame game and called for unity, a theme that is likely to be the centerpiece of his acceptance s،ch at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
“In this moment,” T،p already has said, “it is more important than ever that we stand United, and s،w our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”
But we need to remember not to forget w، T،p is and what he has done.
Americans got a taste of that when T،p took to Truth Social on Monday following Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the cl،ified do،ents prosecution. “As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the ،rrific events on Sa،ay,” T،p wrote, “this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida s،uld be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Wa،ngton, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old p،to in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia ‘Perfect’ P،ne Call charges.”
T،p gave everyone a reminder of what his version of unity looks like when he added, “The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspi، a،nst Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System and Make America Great A،n!”
As the journalist Greg Sargeant explains, “T،se positions are irredeemably incompatible with any stated goal of unifying the country, at a very fundamental level. They em،y the notion that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with trying to cling to power ille،imately, through violent means, in defiance of the votes and political aspirations of a majority of his fellow Americans.”
Sargeant added, “They also em،y the idea that he and his movement s،uld not be subject to the same laws that the rest of us are. T،p is telegraphing that he won’t back off any of that in the slightest.”
That is why President Biden and the Democrats need to quickly resume speaking out about what it would mean for this country and its Cons،ution for the Republicans and their presidential nominee to win in November. The ،ur is late, and the urgency is great.
In this moment of serial traumas, if Americans are to have any chance of ،lding on to the freedoms, rights, and ways of life that we value in this moment of serial traumas, we must remember not to forget.