Trump attack sparks fears ahead of Republican convention

Shortly after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump is set to be formally nominated by Republicans as their candidate for President of the United States, during what will be one of the most closely watched political conventions in recent memory.

Party and Trump campaign officials confirmed the Republican National Convention would open as planned on Monday, two days after he was shot in the ear while speaking at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Thousands of political delegates and crowds of protesters will gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the four-day convention, along with a police presence that is expected to be massively expanded.

Amidst a maze of security barriers that have been erected in the city center, the VOA spoke to residents and convention attendees, some of whom said they were concerned about the possibility of more unrest.

“I think it’s going to get worse. They’re closing the streets every hour,” said Milwaukee resident James Houser.

Laura Baigert, Trump’s alternate delegate from Tennessee, called the assassination attempt “shocking and heartbreaking.”

“I hope that [la convención] “It’s safe, but you never know… it’s scary to think about it: it was a gunshot to the head. We were lucky that God was looking out for him,” she said.

FBI officials have identified the suspected shooter as Matthew Crooks, 20, who lived about an hour from Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting occurred. No motive has been established, according to FBI officials, who said the investigation could take months.

The shooting is one of the gravest acts of political violence in the United States since Sept. 11, said Jacob Ware, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“This is a terrible day in the history of our country,” Ware said. “I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that this is the last time we’ll see violence.”

President Joe Biden, Trump’s presidential rival, condemned the shooting, calling it “sickening” and saying there was no place for political violence in the United States.

Even before the shooting, fears of election-related unrest were mounting, especially after Trump’s support for protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol following his 2020 election loss to Biden.

Trump and many of his supporters who say they feel disenfranchised have long complained that the 2020 election was stolen, though no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been presented.

Many Republicans are also upset that Trump has faced an unprecedented wave of criminal charges since leaving office, including some brought by the U.S. Justice Department.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in May, two-thirds of Americans said they were concerned about extremists committing violence if they are unhappy with the outcome of the November election.

Some in Milwaukee are particularly concerned about the Republican convention, especially since Wisconsin state law does not allow authorities to ban firearms in the convention’s expanded security zone.

Earlier this year, some local Milwaukee politicians tried, unsuccessfully, to pass a law banning guns in the area. The Secret Service says it will not allow members of the public to carry guns in the “strict perimeter,” where credentials are required to enter.

A local councillor called the regulations “absurd” and said those in the area would be allowed to carry semi-automatic rifles, but not tennis balls, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat who now runs a crisis communications agency called the Global Situation Room, said there was an urgent need for those in US politics to tone down their radical rhetoric.

“Leaders on both sides need to step back,” said Bruen, who lamented that some American politicians have already begun to politicize the tragedy.

As details of the shooting were still emerging on Saturday, Georgia House member Mike Collins appeared to accuse Biden, without evidence, of orchestrating an assassination attempt.

“Joe Biden sent the orders,” Collins said in a post on social media site X.

Collins was referring to Biden’s recent comment that “it’s time to put Trump on the spot,” an attempt to divert media attention from what observers said was a poor debate performance.

Trump has also frequently resorted to incendiary rhetoric, including mocking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, who suffered serious injuries after an intruder hit him with a hammer during a home invasion in 2022.

But Alex Gray, Trump’s former National Security Council chief of staff, pushed back against comments by left-wing figures framing Trump as a fascist dictator.

“We hear a lot of talk about President Trump supposedly being a threat to democracy. I think what we all need to do is take a step back,” Gray said.

Gray, who will attend the convention, said he is confident in the safety of the event and hopes the convention will become an opportunity for Trump and other Republicans to lay out an “uplifting and unifying vision” for America’s democratic institutions.

“He is now the first American president since Ronald Reagan to have faced an assassin’s bullet. He is uniquely positioned to comment on the strength, resilience and durability of our democracy,” Gray added.

Many observers, including Ware, say the dramatic images of a bloodied Trump defiantly raising his fist after being shot will energize his supporters, possibly boosting his chances of winning the election. But the incident also increases the chances of further unrest, he said.

“We are living in a very scary time,” he added. “And I’m not quite sure what our country will look like tomorrow after an incident like this.”

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