Issued on: 16/09/2024 – 20:07

By:François PICARDFollow|Alessandro XENOS|Rebecca GNIGNATI

1 min

How violent are liberal democracies these days? Authorities in the US are investigating what is possibly the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump of this presidential election campaign.

We ask about the probe and whether a link exists between violent rhetoric and actual acts of violence. From the assassination of Japan’s former leader Shinzo Abe to the recent attempt on the life of Slovakia‘s Prime Minister Robert Fico, each example is different.

But is there something about America, the land of gun rights and the pioneer spirit of the Wild West, that makes it unique among Western powers? What impact does this violence have on voters? And when they count the ballots, will the pen be mightier than the sword?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Former US president and Republican party candidate Donald Trump will return to the campaign trail Tuesday following what seems to have been a second attempt on his life in the increasingly tense lead-up to the November election. Trump and his rival Kamala Harris are both focusing their campaigns on the handful of swing states that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

Issued on: 17/09/2024 – 09:59

2 min

By:NEWS WIRES

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Donald Trump hits the campaign trail again on Tuesday, traveling to Michigan two days after an apparent assassination attempt against him was foiled at his golf course in Florida.

His Democratic rival Kamala Harris will also be campaigning, as she heads to the key battleground state of Pennsylvania for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).

That event and another interview with Hispanic media, recorded Monday and set to air Tuesday, will be the first time Harris will have an opportunity to react in-person to the apparent bid on Trump’s life.

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The Republican nominee and ex-president was whisked away by the Secret Service after a gunman was discovered on his golf course in Florida on Sunday, in the second such close call for Trump in as many months.

As security officials said they believed the suspect acted alone, Trump sought to blame Harris and President Joe Biden for the scare, citing what he called their rhetoric about him endangering democracy.

Trump’s politicization of the incident – even as he, on the campaign trail, paints Harris as an “evil” radical turning America into a “failing nation” – has further stoked tensions ahead of the presidential election in seven weeks.

Both Biden and Harris have issued statements denouncing the apparent assassination bid, with Harris saying “violence has no place in America.”

But Trump has claimed that rhetoric from Biden and Harris “is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country.”

‘Turned Black’

The dueling visits of Trump in Michigan and Harris in Pennsylvania come as both candidates focus on the half-dozen swing states most important to win in the country’s Electoral College system.

A new poll from Suffolk University and USA Today shows Harris with a slight edge over Trump in Pennsylvania – 49 percent to 46 percent – thanks in large part to major support from women voters.

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Still, her advantage in that poll remains within the margin of error – and the election at-large remains close.

This year’s particularly bitter presidential campaign has seen not just the two assassination attempts against Trump but also bomb threats against an Ohio town’s immigrant community and a fringe party urging Harris’s murder.

When Harris arrives for her interview with the NABJ, however, another Trump moment is also likely to come up.

It was when Trump spoke with the professional association in July that he said Harris, who has an Indian mother and Jamaican father, “happened to turn Black,” in remarks claiming that she opted to highlight one of her dual racial identities for political gain.

(AFP)

Issued on: 14/09/2024 – 10:54Modified: 14/09/2024 – 11:17