It was a Sunday, 14th of July, 3 pm (AEST) live coverage event from Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) covering the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Australian-US correspondent, David Lipson, who had worked in the United States for many years, compared Trump’s closed-fist chanting of “fight” following his frightful near-miss as a moment of “strength in contrast to Joe Biden’s weak debate performance.” As an American, currently living in Australia, I thought to myself that surely this reporter doesn’t want Biden to be shot in the ear so that a more accurate comparison can be made? If so, David, you would be surprised to learn the difficulty of making this happen. The production insurance alone would even blow Sky News' budget. Of course, I knew that he didn’t mean this. Surely. Though, nothing would surprise me in this era of yellow-journalism. Ten minutes later, the next guest echoed Lipson's comments, nearly word for word, and went on to describe vague “street violence between the left and right” happening America since the 2020 election. He made a point that political violence and rhetoric has “risen in the last 10 years” while not referring to any specific even. In fact, none of the anchors or guests mentioned the January 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, or even the origin of this "violent rhetoric" which I shouldn't have to say began at these same Trump rallies during his 2016 bid for the presidency.
Today was a fearful day for America. A flurry of emotions tore through me when first witnessing the secret service shrouding Trump from gunfire. I thought back to the false alarm Trump had experienced at another rally several years back which had a similar reaction. I had initially assumed this to be the same and looked away from the computer a moment to continue folding laundry. When the clip played again, I realised this was very real. I saw him grab his ear. I saw the blood. I selfishly thought “he’s got this election in the bag now.” The sympathy is just too great of a rallying cry. When my heart calmed, I was reminded of how much has happened during the past ten years in America. Despite even an assassination attempt, Americans minds won’t be swayed. Trump’s fanbase will not grow, but it will be more rabid than ever before. It was a fearful day because we don’t know if this is the beginning of an escalation of violence, if there will be revenge, or if it will happen again elsewhere. Even more fearful was corporate media themselves, who nearly lost their cash cow.
Further into this panel discussion, the spin was not that Trump’s rhetoric had ironically caught up to him for once, but that the attempt on his life proved his narrative of being the victim. Not proving it to his followers, but proving it to this panel of “journalists” that Trump was right all along… that he was a martyr. I will speak to who and what Trump is a martyr to shortly. Hearing their words spoken not out of devil’s advocate, but as fact, saddened me. Just before I thought this opinion spectacle could get any worse, the broadcast closed with the top anchor describing America in 2024 resembling 1968. He cited the Democratic nominee potentially stepping down, the Gaza protests on campuses worldwide, and finally an assassination… before he completed his sentence, I thought to be myself “God, he’s going to say it.” Sure enough, he closed his words with “…like that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Trump, an aspiring authoritarian fascist and convicted felon who has called for the end of the constitution and is also the figurehead for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, is now being compared to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on a major Australian news outlet. Not one member of that panel batted an eye. It is for this reason that when Trump stood back up, fist in the air, blood leaking from his wherever, I had never seen a person so happy to have been shot. A saviour had risen. Luckily for Trump, only the good die young. He won’t be a verse in Phil Ochs’ “Crucifixion,” a song chronicling the cosmic rhythm of young males in their prime assassinated during their fight for positive social change. However, in an era where social media dominates thought, corporate figures are worshiped and authoritarian thinking goes unquestioned in such panels as this one, Trump has been rationalized to the point that one day, he may indeed be spoken by his supporters in the same vein of Dr. King. But what is Trump’s noble cause that attracted this attempt on his life and for these major news networks to forget how we got here? Trump is defending neoliberalism from Biden’s revival of Keynesian economics. The Biden administration has sold out neoliberalism through student debt forgiveness, infrastructure and middle class investment, and by going after corporate monopolies, resulting in billionaires lining up behind Trump. Biden plans to amplify this fight when tackling the housing crisis next. These are just a few ways the Biden administration hopes to kickstart the next great prosperity for the middle class. Sadly, we are in an age where people embrace the private sector over government service. God is the almighty dollar. Trump is the billionaires' cash saviour and they damn nearly lost him.
In Australia, I am often asked “are you Canadian?” (I’m from Austin, Texas) One day, I finally asked a shop owner why this is the case after he had done the same. “Why guess Canada first?” I asked. The man shook his head with a smile, “you’re so polite, that’s why.” We had a good laugh. I think a day may come, perhaps when I don’t have a democracy to return to, when I won’t be so polite. Instead, maybe they will know I am an American by the sulking look on my face. They won’t have to question why I came so far. Australian politicians look to America. Now, they may only do so as a warning that it can also happen here.
No one knows what tomorrow will bring. Americans have seen enough to know that nothing will change the minds of their fellow citizens. That said, nothing will affect the outcome of this election. Not a dead Joe Biden, not a dead Donald Trump. The only true way to assassinate Trump is by not giving him attention. Since the media is not able to do so, I only ask my fellow Americans to vote for policy, not image. If not, you have a place to stay if you ever make it to Australia.
Note: I have yet to find a recording of this live broadcast as of publishing. If you happen to find it, please let me know and I will update this post.
Comments