The horrid attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump Saturday evening amidst a rancorous presidential campaign brings to mind the phrase, “let us have peace.” Those are the words chiseled high over Riverside Drive, right above the portico on Grant’s Tomb.
It was the slogan used by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the victorious Union Army commander in the Civil War, in his successful 1868 presidential campaign. Opened in 1897, the granite and marble mausoleum on 122nd St. was once the most visited tourist site in the country, outdrawing the Statue of Liberty, while the memories of the Civil War lingered.
These days, the monument is much quieter, but the message of peace within our nation is essential.
To their credit, both Trump and President Biden say we must coalesce. As Trump posted on his Truth Social yesterday morning: “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.” Yesterday afternoon at the White House, before his Oval Office address, Biden said: “We must unite as one nation. We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.”
Despite the election season’s sharp divisions, we are all Americans and it was moving on Saturday night, after the chaos in Butler, Pa. that Biden went before the cameras and said: “I have tried to get a hold of Donald.” Not “my predecessor” or “the former president” or “former president Trump” but just “Donald.”
The two men, despite being rivals for the White House in 2020 and again in 2024, are still husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They also share a much smaller fraternity that has among the tiniest of memberships: being president.
The country came within less than an inch of a president’s funeral this week instead of a nomination and for that we are all thankful, even as the nation mourns with the family of Corey Comperatore, murdered by the dead gunman, and we pray for the two other men critically wounded.
There are many questions about how the gunman found such a perch so close to Trump and how he managed to get off eight shots from his father’s AR-15 before being shot dead by the Secret Service, as well as his motives, if those can be discerned. And it is correct for the FBI to lead the probe, since the Secret Service did not adequately protect Trump.
Now about having peace, everyone needs to keep their cool and lower the temperatures.
Trump has more than dabbled in violent rhetoric for his nine years on the national stage, starting from his ride down the escalator into the basement of Trump Tower to begin his first campaign and leading up to his stoking a mob that sacked the Capitol, for which he has been indicted. Will his near-death experience temper him?
Republicans point to Biden and his allies who say that Trump is a threat to the existence of democracy and must be stopped at all costs. It didn’t help for Biden to tell donors last week that, “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
In the U.K., candidates for Parliament await the results together. While we can’t expect that, Trump and Biden must strive to “let us have peace.”