Australian News Today

The unfounded theories and misinformation after the Trump shooting will be where the danger lies

The unfounded theories and misinformation after the Trump shooting will be where the danger lies

A bloodied former president, fist in the air, defiantly standing up after being forced to the ground by gunshots at a political rally in the United States. 

This disturbing and chilling image will remain seared in the collective memories of not only Americans but people across the world. It is vision that speaks to the deeply dangerous times we are facing as the US heads to an election in November.

The temperature couldn’t be higher, the rhetoric is escalating day after day and relentlessly pushing people into entrenched camps and echo chambers that tear at who and what we are. It amplifies division.

The attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump has sent a chill through the Western democratic world and reminded us all just how dangerous and febrile political polarisation can be. 

We’ve seen it rise its ugly head before and we know how this violence ends. This is not the first attempt to assassinate a US presidential nominee or sitting president, but in the current political climate, it represents a dramatic escalation. 

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An attack on ‘the values we share, the freedom we treasure’ 

Within an hour of the news breaking, leaders across the world including Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, were condemning the violence.

Denouncing the attack on Trump was one thing that seems to have brought leaders on vastly different parts of the political spectrum together — left to right, populist to conservative.

Albanese expressed his relief that Trump was safe, describing the incident at former president Trump’s campaign event in Pennsylvania as “concerning and confronting”. 

“There is no place for violence in the democratic process,” Albanese said.

Posted , updated