Trump, the victim | Column

On Saturday evening, former President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. The gunman shot four people. One died. Two are in critical condition. Mr. Trump was grazed in the upper right ear.

Trump is a victim. He deserves our sympathy. Our true thoughts and prayers. Our wishes for peaceful nights for him and his family. Forget his political and business empires. He has a wife and children who were spared losing him by inches.

Victims need community in their time of grief. They need support from people of all political and ethnic stripes. They need consolation and comfort. They deserve kindness.

Victims also need institutions. They need police and emergency responders in times of violence. Doctors and medical professionals must be trusted to care for the injured. After the incident, victims need legal counsel and a justice system that seeks to hold accountable those who broke the law. That same system aids and comforts the targets of those transgressions.

For nearly all his adult life, Donald Trump has claimed to be a victim. He said he was a victim of bankruptcy courts, divorce courts, the press, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, state election offices, the FBI, his doctors, his lawyers, his Cabinet, Congress and NATO. He even claimed to be the victim of the Emmys for lack of awards for his show The Apprentice.

The claims had little merit, but they did have an effect. The former president’s continued attacks on the institutions that serve Americans, especially victims, have done great damage. Trust in our elected officials, law enforcement, doctors, journalists, educators and regulators have reached an all-time low. While faith in America’s institutions has been dropping for many years, Trump made their decay a pillar of his platform.

All these entities deserve scrutiny. They are what make our society function, and they are too vital to avoid oversight.

Scrutiny is different than blatant distrust. The Secret Service deserves scrutiny, and we need a thorough look into whether the assassination attempt was preventable. Authorities must probe the gunman’s motives and possession of an assault rifle. The situation requires careful examination of dangerous political rhetoric from Democrats, especially President Joe Biden’s comments just days before the attack to “put Trump in a bull’s-eye.”

Healthy scrutiny is how institutions improve. Those institutions, for all their flaws, are what keep us from chaos. This horrifying assassination attempt requires serious investigation and those who failed in their responsibilities held accountable. They must improve to protect someone from becoming the next victim.

We are at the familiar juncture following tragedy. The haze of gun smoke clears just long enough to see our shared humanity and sympathy upstage polarization. This may not last long, so let’s capitalize on this quiet pause. Not for political finger pointing but for true healing. Vow to repair, not erode, what holds us together.

At any moment, regardless of our resources, any one of us can become a victim, stunned and wounded. In that moment, we trust in our community. We count on fellow Americans to put aside differences and help someone in need.