Rhetoric After the Donald Trump Assassination Attempt

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After a busy Saturday in central London with a friend and then a trip to the gym (I know, but there’s no point going to the gym unless you tell everyone,) I settled down for the evening to watch the New York Yankees game. As it finished, my TV flicked over to CNN and the news that Donald Trump had nearly been assassinated.

Others had seen the attack not on a replay, but live. In many ways, the incident summed up our entire political and media era – polarised and playing out on television and online. Trump made it a media moment too, having the instinct to pose for the bloodied image that has now been seen around the world.

Wolf Blitzer on CNN handled the incident in the manner you’d expect from such an experienced professional. On the BBC, Gary O’Donohue excelled, speaking to people who said they had noticed the shooter on the roof before he attempted to kill the former and probably future President.

Not Everything is the Media’s Fault

Here in the UK, we know about political murders too. Both Jo Cox and Sir David Amess were killed when going about their work as politicians. There was also an attack on Parliament, resulting in a police officer losing their life. This was all driven, in no small part, by the frenzied rhetoric of the Brexit era.

Since the events of Saturday, there have been calls to dial down the rhetoric. It is all very well calling on the media itself to bring down the heat. We certainly should behave responsibly in that regard – we never need to see a Daily Mail “Enemies of the People” splash again. However, if politicians and their proxies are being incendiary, what TV presenters and columnists say will only make so much of a difference.

I’ll never be one to advocate for blindly following what leading national and other legacy outlets publish. I started this publication to challenge it! But as social media became a cesspit on Saturday, we saw the value in traditional, cautious reporting. Politics is a contact sport, but some of its participants applying that approach would help a lot.