Greater security, softer rhetoric expected after Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON — The assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Saturday came amid harsh political rhetoric from the campaigns and supporters of both Trump and President Joe Biden, especially in social media posts, lawmakers and political strategists said Sunday.

In the wake of the shooting, the Biden and Trump campaigns have begun to soften their messaging as they review and seek to tighten security at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week and at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago. 

The lawmakers and strategists who spoke to Newsday also warned that lowering the temperature of political discourse could be difficult because of the extreme and divisive language on social media posted by some individuals, politicians and advocacy groups.

“I think that all parties need to analyze their rhetoric on how they approach their own politics and focus more on policy, not on personalities,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) said in a phone interview. But that will not stop the divisive posts on social media, he said.

“Facebook and Twitter are both sewers of people spewing their vitriol,” LaLota said. “They've made comparisons of Trump to Hitler. They had called him a fascist, because they essentially say the world will end if he has a second term. I think that sort of rhetoric and hyperbole has gotten us to where we are today.”

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) said he has been talking about the need to take down the rhetoric for years. 

Suozzi pointed to four things he blames for partisan anger and division: lawmakers in safe seats just appealing to their base; social media on which the more extreme things you say the more likes you get; cable news networks appealing to their base to keep their audiences watching, and foreign adversaries using social media to make disagreements on issues hotter and bigger.

"We can disagree with each other, but we have to stop holding each other in contempt," Suozzi told Newsday. "Contempt is destroying our country and is what leads to, I think, violent behavior. And there's no place for it."

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-Island Park) blamed rhetoric and extremism for threats to politicians.

"There needs to be serious security precautions that are taken at all events, and not just for those running for president," he told Newsday. "There's been an increased amount of threats to my office and to me, and I know it's happening to other members."

He added, "The rhetoric and the extremism that we've had for what seems like years is coming to a point where it's coming to a boiling point, and unfortunately we saw that legitimately on live TV [when] you had somebody who tried to assassinate Donald Trump."

Michael Dawidziak, a Long Island political consultant who mostly works with Republicans, said the Trump campaign already had begun to pull back on harsh rhetoric, for a very practical reason.

“The Republican base is already energized," Dawidziak told Newsday. “The smart play is to be a kinder, gentler Republican Party and start attracting those moderate swing voters who are going to make the difference."

Dawidziak also called the “echo chamber” of social media, television and radio catering to the left and right a “huge problem” that will be hard to address. “We have built a society where you can insulate yourself from the truth if you want to. You can live in your own echo chambers,” he said.

Steve Israel, a former Long Island Democratic congressman who serves on the Democrats’ platform committee for Biden’s campaign, agreed with Dawidziak's analysis.

“Trump has fully consolidated. He's at his ceiling. Biden has not consolidated, which means that for Biden to win he's got to get those moderate independent persuadables, who are still making their judgments,” Israel told Newsday.

“Trump can't do any more to fire up his base. He needs to lower the temperature to appeal to the moderates,” he said.

Asked what the shooting means to a Biden campaign that had focused on Trump, Israel said, "Welcome to the dozens of phone calls and texts I have received today asking that question."

Israel also said he expected a tightening of security.

“The plain fact is that all the security in the world cannot guarantee a candidate safety unless a candidate decides not to leave his or her home. And that makes democracy a casualty, right?” he said. “So, the best thing we can do is increase security, but also decrease the anger.”