Political violence is the real threat to democracy

Former President Donald Trump brings his campaign for the White House to Nassau County on Wednesday, three days after what the FBI describes as an attempted assassination, the second such incident in two months. Even with our coarsened discourse and bitter partisanship, such political violence still shocks.

We have every confidence that Nassau County’s well-trained and experienced police officers can provide excellent supplemental security for the visit, but it’s the Secret Service that sets the rules and the agency still doesn't inspire confidence that it is up to the task. Calls for better security resounded after Trump's much-closer brush with harm in July.

On Sunday afternoon, the Secret Service did prevent shots from being fired at Trump while he was playing at his West Palm Beach golf course, but there are many unanswered questions about how someone with a high-powered weapon could get so close — and how for the second time a man dealing with mental illness had access to the semiautomatic rifle involved. 

Ryan Routh, 58, was charged Monday with violating two federal gun laws. The criminal complaint filed in federal court in West Palm Beach cited cellphone records to state that Routh was near the golf course from 1:59 a.m. Sunday morning until a Secret Service agent saw him and the barrel of his gun behind shrubbery at 1:39 p.m. Although the Secret Service says the gunman never had Trump within his sights, he was lurking about for 12 hours in the vicinity of the golf course. That's astonishing. 

For the remainder of his campaign, Trump needs the same level of security as a sitting president. The Secret Service's acting director says the agency needs more funding for more personnel. Congress should grant that immediately. Meanwhile, the campaigns of Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris should choose venues that are easier to protect.

Despite warnings in July that the overheated language of this 2024 election and the exaggerated calamity that one candidate or the other would inflict on the nation needed to stop, it continued in many forms. Trump has no evidence for his claim that his political opponents were to blame for the behavior of Routh, who initially appears to have been motivated by his support for military assistance to Ukraine. Yet, Trump wasted no time sending emails to his supporters about his safety with links to his fundraising page. 

Soon after Sunday’s alarming news, one of Trump's most high-profile supporters sought to fan the flames. SpaceX and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk tweeted, "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," accompanied by a pensive face emoji. Musk, who controls the social media platform X, once known as Twitter, deleted his post after nine hours, saying he was joking.

There should be legitimate and sharp criticism in political campaigns, but politicizing violence would be this nation's greatest threat to democracy.