It was a scary week in America. A troubling and unsettling eight days.
It started with an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13. Then, eight days later, President Joe Biden gave in to pressure and announced he would not seek reelection.
In between, Americans heard, read and scrolled through multitudes of rumors, facts, opinions, political commentary, conspiracy theories and a lot of irresponsible garbage from all sides.
Surviving all the turmoil, maybe government leaders will come out smarter and more caring. Maybe candidates and elected officials will do a better job of listening to people — everyone — and maybe they will stop making campaign promises that are 100% political and close to 100% impossible. Maybe they will stop basing their campaigns on anger.
For generations who lived through the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, the past week has been a sad reminder that there are far too many people in the country who believe killing is their response to anger.
For Americans too young to know about those past attacks, the week should be a time of learning — and a time to commit to a better country, where different opinions are allowed, not vilified with obscenities and pointing flagpoles.
Thankfully, Trump survived the attack. In time, authorities might find out why the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man woke up that day, climbed a roof and tried to kill the former president. And why he had photos of Biden, the FBI director and attorney general on his phone. But until then, people should not embrace rumors as a substitute for facts.
Also thankfully, Biden at the end of the week decided to end his candidacy for reelection, sparing his supporters and the nation further anguish over his health as an 81-year-old. It was a short letter: “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Though the letter is pretty clear, that did not stop some of his opponents from making up their own news. Multiple Republican leaders issued statements on Sunday, twisting the president’s announcement to suit their own purposes. They said Biden’s decision to end his reelection effort is a clear admission that he is unfit to serve another day, and they called on the president to resign immediately. They said he is too weak and feeble to be president. At least one said Biden should be kicked out of office.
It's unfortunate that after eight days of national horror at the attempted assassination of Trump, too many politicians still see everything as an opportunity to spread divisiveness, to attack and accuse — to win an election at all costs.
- Wrangell Sentinel
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