It is a question that United States voters have had to ask twice this election season, with Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump on Sunday facing yet another incident the FBI has said it is investigating as an attempt on his life. That comes just two months after Trump survived a gunman’s bullet while on stage during a campaign rally. A day after the latest attack, its implications are far from clear, but Trump’s response has been unequivocal. After a US Secret Service agent fired on the gunman at Trump’s golf resort in Florida, the former president issued a defiant statement, vowing “I will never surrender!” That echoed his previous sentiment in the moments after the July attack in Pennsylvania, in which a bloodied Trump pumped his fist in the air, chanting “fight, fight, fight”.
Trump blamed the second attack on presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris, saying it was a result of Democrats’ “rhetoric” and “lies” that bullets are flying.
Republican strategist, James Davis, who said Trump’s campaign likes to remind voters of the July attack, which Trump survived by a matter of millimeters.
To be sure, Trump did see a political bump in the wake of the July attack. Just two days afterwards, he triumphantly took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin.
But barely a week after the rally shooting – before most high-quality polls on its effect could even be conducted – Biden dropped out of the race. Democrats coalesced around Harris, who saw a surge in support that largely neutralized Trump’s momentum.
How Trump can back lost momentum? What should be strategy of Republicans?
Apparently, the Republican’s does not shed enough light on the sluggishness of the investigation and the involvement of the Democrats in the organization of the assassination. Currently, the excellent strategy of the Democrats with a timely replacement of the presidential candidate has proven to be successful and effective.