Balancing public reaction after Trump shooting

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Researchers warn of rising public tensions after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. A Michigan State University professor says how the country reacts could determine if social temperatures rise.

Steven Cermak studies terrorism and mass shootings with the MSU School of Criminal Justice. He says social media was quickly flooded with speculation about the shooter’s ideology and motive. But there’s a lot the public and investigators are yet to uncover.

“Until we know more about — whatever rhetoric? What was he reading? What was he doing? Can we make the jump to say ‘This was an act of domestic terrorism, this was political violence,'” says Cermak.

He says investigators will have to take in multiple accounts and clues from the suspect’s life to determine the motive.

The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, as the shooter. The man was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh.

RELATED: Fmr. Secret Service agent breaks down attempted assassination

Cermak says the shooting comes at a time of already high public tension.

“People feel like they don’t have a voice. They feel they’re frustrated with the process and people have been frustrated for eight years,” he says. “I think there’s a lot of things that go sort of broadly, contextually into that — changes socially that have occurred, changes politically that have occurred.”

Cermak says since the start of the decade, there’s been a rise in attacks on public officials, from judges to public school administrators.

He adds that virtual activities and actions could lead to real-life consequences.

Cermak says research has noted a rise in “unfiltered” rhetoric and misinformation on social media. That sometimes leaks into more public settings.

“When politicians start talking about issues and are not using evidence and are not speaking truth, they’re speaking political language in order to inflame, but also to get people to sort of vote for them and support their ideas,” says Cermak, “That gets people upset and I’ve seen a height in the temperature.”

Researchers on extremism released statements Monday saying there was a documented increase in politically violent rhetoric just after the assassination attempt.

That includes Amy Cooter, who helps lead a team at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism located at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey that tracks the current tone of political speech online and wrote a book on the roots of the U.S militia movement.

“We certainly see some people, already, looking for opportunities for revenge or vengeance for what they see as an affront, not just on Trump, but on their understanding of the country,” Cooter tells 6 News. “So, we’re certainly worried that this will galvanize other extremist actors into problematic action.”

She says her organization has been tracking a stronger “us” versus “them” mindset that is raising red flags for her and her colleagues.

“In Michigan, as well as the rest of the country, we’ve seen a dramatic uptick in extremism and threats from a variety of different groups,” Cooter said. “and we’re worried that we have not yet seen the peak.”

Saturday’s shooting could be a turning point, Cermak says.

“As Former President Trump makes more statements about that event and how he uses it in his campaign to be the next president can either calm things down or escalate things upwards,” says Cermak.

He expands to include reactions from across the aisle.

He says waiting for confirmed details on the incident can help stabilize the conversation about the attack. Something similar to the aftermath of the 2023 mass shooting at MSU.

“All the misinformation that got sort of woven into it and law enforcement trying to do their job, but also trying to do their public job of putting information out there. But then individuals saying, ‘I see this, I see that, I saw this,'” says Cermak.

That’s something Michael Lackomar, spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, says his members are also seeing and reacting to.

For Lackomar, political discourse in the country has reached a dangerous level.

“Well, we’ve seen the divide between left and right getting wider and wider and wider,” he says. “We’re at the point now where I don’t see a way of reconciling this short of some sort of cataclysmic event that brings everybody together. Such as, you know Pearl Harbor or 9/11 type of event. That seems to be the only thing that galvanizes a deep divide.”

While some may consider the militia movement itself as a potential threat, Lackomar says their aims have always been defensive, and the state’s militias are frequently in communication, particularly over anyone who has expressed concerning ideology or acted in concerning ways.

“If we have somebody that we think is an issue, is a problem, that gets passed around real fast,” he tells 6 News.

Cermak and Cooter, the researchers, say it takes time for the impact of actions, such as Saturday’s assassination attempt, to shape the political and social landscape.

Cooter says the assassination attempt has, however, appeared to be solidifying some political sides.

“We’re frankly still assessing the situation with the assassination attempt,” Cooter says, “but it certainly has been galvanizing for a lot of people.”

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