Published July 17, 2024
As our politics has become ever more polarized over the past four years—drawing comparisons to the violent political and social conflicts of the 1960s—up till now we’ve been able to reassure ourselves that “at least the assassinations haven’t started.” Well, strike that. With a burst of bullets passing millimeters from former President Donald Trump’s skull, we seem to find ourselves back in the world of 1968, when Palestinian radical Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy for his support of Israel. Or are we perhaps in the world of 1981, when President Ronald Reagan survived a bullet from the gun of would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr., an infatuated madman simply hoping to impress actress Jodie Foster? No one knows for sure.
But that doesn’t stop us from speculating. Although America is no stranger to political assassination attempts, this is the first major one of the social media era—a volatile combination indeed. Within minutes of the story breaking, X was rife with rumors and theories. Some alleged that the shooter was an antifa member named Mark Violets, which turned out to be false; others speculated that Trump hadn’t been shot at all but had just faked the whole thing as a publicity stunt to boost his candidacy, a narrative that grew increasingly implausible as news emerged of the innocent bystanders shot. At least half of Saturday night’s hot takes were discredited by Sunday morning, and probably half of Sunday’s will be discredited by the time you read this.
Click here to continue reading.
Brad Littlejohn was a Fellow in EPPC’s Technology and Human Flourishing and Evangelicals in Civic Life programs from 2022-2025. His wide-ranging research and writing encompasses work on the relation of digital technology and embodiment, the appropriate limits of free speech, the nature of freedom and authority in the Christian tradition, and the retrieval of a Protestant natural law ethic.
