Trump assassination attempt leaves Democratic Party splintered

After the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump , the Democratic Party is still more splintered than it has been in decades.

The Left had already been in a state of hysteria for the nearly three weeks since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance stoked fears that, if he is the nominee in November, he is likely to lose in a landslide. Biden has faced increased calls to step aside from elected officials, political consultants, and many in the left-wing media, including the New York Times editorial board.

Biden had been resisting these pleas but continued to make embarrassing blunders, such as referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by the name of maniacal Russian President Vladimir Putin and referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump. However, the discussion about Biden stepping aside all but completely froze after Trump was grazed by a bullet and a rally attendee was killed in Pennsylvania last Saturday.

Amid calls for unity and depolarization, one House Democrat said , “We’ve all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency.” Another said, “We're all just focused on expressing condolences ... and keeping our teams safe.” Democratic politicians believe it would "be bad form to make any statements against President Biden” at this time.

The timing of the rally shooting interrupted an extremely negative news cycle for Biden, as he had held a meeting earlier in the day with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition that had been described as “tense” and a “disaster.” One representative even told him to drop out of the race during a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the day prior.

While Biden has entered a temporary grace period, the rapid return of partisan politics Monday with the beginning of the Republican National Convention means that Biden is likely again to face pressure from within his party to allow someone else to be the nominee.

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Another hurdle for the Democratic Party is that, while it is being consumed by infighting, the Republican Party is projecting strength on the television screen with its convention. Moreover, the GOP is more unified behind Trump than it has been in years. With former presidential candidates Nikki Haley, Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Perry Johnson, and Vivek Ramaswamy all set to speak about their support of the former president at some point this week, almost every faction of the party will unite.

While a lot can happen in four months, Trump is the clear favorite to win the 2024 presidential election.