MILWAUKEE — Democrats are swapping their attacks on former President Donald Trump with calls for unity after an attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.
But how long the detente lasts, and whether it comes with a change in campaign strategy, is uncertain as members of both parties work to tone down the political rhetoric.
Painting Trump as a threat to democracy is at the center of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. He frequently invokes Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election while suggesting the former president wants to install himself as a dictator.
The convention in Milwaukee this week offered another chance to portray Republicans as “MAGA extremists” for nominating Trump. But instead, the events of Saturday prompted Democrats to pull their campaign advertising from the airwaves as they joined Republicans in denouncing acts of political violence.
Biden hinted on Sunday he would not abandon the themes that defined his candidacy even as he forcefully condemned the attempted assassination of Trump.
“I’ll continue to speak out strongly for our democracy, stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box, no violence on our streets,” he said in a prime-time speech from the Oval Office. “That’s how democracy should work.”
However, the gravity of the attack — one rallygoer died, while a bullet came within millimeters of killing Trump — will force the Biden campaign to reassess everything from how harshly to deliver its rhetoric to how often it should focus directly on Trump.
“This is going to have to lead to a toned-down political calculus,” said Tom Schreibel, a national committeeman for the Republican National Committee.
The wake-up call applies to both sides, Schreibel said. The heated political climate has led to other episodes of violence, including the 2017 shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) at a Congressional Baseball Game practice and, more recently, the hammer attack on ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband in California.
“This isn't just a Democrat issue. This is a whole of America issue,” Schreibel added.
But from a political standpoint, the assassination attempt presents a unique challenge for the Democrats.
They are already being blamed for the shooting, with Republicans highlighting Biden’s recent remark that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye” following the debate. (The motive of the would-be assassin is not yet clear.)
Democrats also run the risk of coming across as partisan at the same moment Trump is calling for national unity at his nominating convention.
For now, the Biden campaign is dialing back its events. The president canceled a Monday trip to Texas for a keynote speech commemorating the Civil Rights Act, while Vice President Kamala Harris will no longer attend a panel conversation in Florida on abortion rights.
But the challenge in the coming days will be how Biden can raise the stakes of the election without inviting further scrutiny to his remarks. Trump, too, will face criticism if he returns to divisive rhetoric. He has previously compared his political opponents to “vermin.”
Evan Power, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, predicted the shooting would energize the bloc of voters already primed to view Trump as a martyr to the conservative cause.
The president trails Trump in a host of battleground states, polling that has gotten worse since his disastrous debate last month.
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“I think we're looking at a much larger win, and our movement will only get stronger because they see the rhetoric that Democrats put out and made him a target, and someone took a shot at him because of that rhetoric,” Power said.
Meanwhile, GOP pollster Frank Luntz doubted the assassination attempt will offer more than a temporary bump to Trump among independent voters in particular.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this story.
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