#USElection2024: Will Second Assassination Attempt Return Donald Trump to White House?
The #USElection2024 is due on November 5, 2024 as the presidential nominees of the Republican party, former US President Donald Trump and Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, go neck-to-neck into the last phase of the historic election.
While Harris has enjoyed more popularity and public goodwill since taking over the nomination from American President Joe Biden who dropped out of the race, Trump has due to unpopular comments and behaviour suffered blows to his campaign, denting his goodwill and chances in the forthcoming contest.
However, the first assassination attempt on him on July 13 gave his campaign the much needed boost, bringing it back on track.
But could he leverage the second assassination attempt which happened at the weekend to regain the political momentum that Vice President Kamala Harris has enjoyed?
Ryan Wesley Routh’s attempt at assassinating the Republican nominee came at a key moment of weakness for the Trump campaign, Bloomberg reported.
Allies had been trying to pull down Donald Trump over his remarks of ‘Haitis eating pets’ and his recent feud with Taylor Swift.
Routh, 58, a suspect in an apparent assassination attempt targeting Trump, has been charged with federal gun crimes.
Trump survived the second attempt after shots were fired near the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024.
The incident comes only two months after Trump was first shot while campaigning at Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump, a former president of the United States and then the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
He was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building.
Crooks also killed one audience member and critically injured two others before he was subsequently shot and killed by the United States Secret Service’s Counter Sniper Team.
Resilient Fighter
Trump blamed the second attack on US Vice President Kamala Harris, saying it was a result of Democrats’ “rhetoric” and “lies” that bullets were flying.
Report also stated that the recent assassination attempt at Trump would give the former US President a way of framing himself as a resilient fighter.
Known for his outlandish style and caustic remarks, the former president could swing more sympathy votes following the incidents as he tries to carve an image of a survivor. And despite the shooting, Trump’s campaigning schedule remains the same.
“The Republican presidential nominee can campaign this week as a figure unscathed by what he casts as evil forces looking to take him down,” stated Bloomberg. This puts Trump’s schedule ‘ in close proximity of voters and allies,’ which is speculated to be fruitful for the Republican nominee.
Kamala Harris is also set to hold a series of events in swing states in the upcoming week. Polls have indicated that Trump and Harris are in a neck-to-neck fight in key battleground states but the attempts on Trump’s life could just offer him the needed extra edge to triumph as the #USElection2024 approaches.
