Will Trump's shooting change him? I'm guessing, no

Will the assassination attempt be a catalyst for Trump's personal change?

Because of the shooting, Trump has supposedly altered his upcoming convention speech, calling it "a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world together."  Trump claims, instead of attacking Biden, he will focus on unity.

Call me skeptical. 

Wallace and Trump were both shot while campaigning,
and the similarities don't end there

Trump's had plenty of chances to call for unity before and instead has stoked division--from his "American carnage" inauguration remarks (about which Former President George W. Bush commented, "That was some weird sh*t") to his calls to jail opponents to imploring January 6 supporters to "fight like hell." And, unlike Biden's recent national speech to calm the nation after the attempt on Trump's life, Trump never once addressed the country, for example, about the murder of George Floyd. 

But such change has happened before (albeit far too little, and far too late).

Against the backdrop of the 1960's, in a country of southern whites angry and scared about integration and civil rights, George Wallace ran gubernatorial campaign ads shouting, "Wake up Alabama! Blacks vow to take over!" And, yet, in 1968, Wallace garnered an incredible (and terrifying) 13.5% of the popular vote as a third-party presidential candidate (which translated to 46 electoral votes from southern states).

Note: Trump has tapped into that same disgusting (and unwarranted) white rage (for example, through his numerous instances of calling undocumented migrants rapists/animals/convicts that are poisoning the blood of our country).

Wallace--a loathsome man who once vowed "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"--was shot while campaigning for the primaries in 1972.

The man behind sending state troopers that mercilessly beat Blacks peacefully marching for voting rights (a dark day that's now known as "Bloody Sunday") supposedly reflected on his horrific words and actions regarding civil rights after becoming paralyzed from the shooting. In fact, the man once reviled by Blacks and whites alike publicly changed his views, becoming Alabama governor yet again (amazingly, with 90% of the African-American vote), appointing scores of African-Americans to governmental posts, working to increase Black voter registration, and with continuing admissions of the repugnance of his earlier views.

So, there's precedent for a vile, populist presidential candidate to search his soul and change his views following an attempt on his life.

Will that happen with Donald Trump in Milwaukee this week with his GOP convention speech? Will it be unifying? Will it be soul-searching? Will it be inspiring?

We'll just have to wait and see.

But I wouldn't bet on it.

Trump shooting exposes disingenuous GOP

Well, that didn't take long.

Mere minutes after the horrible assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Georgia's Republican Representative Mike Collins posted this despicable accusation on X: Joe Biden sent the orders.

To recap: an elected government official just accused the President of the United States of ordering the assassination of a political rival.

Agents surround Trump after his being shot

Fortunately, Trump is relatively okay (full disclosure: I am adamant in the belief that Donald Trump has been destructive to this country, but there is NO excuse for this terrible act; political voices should only be silenced via the ballot box).

Biden had carelessly stated, to be sure, after his debate debacle, that he needed to focus on Trump, to, metaphorically, "put Trump in a bullseye."

But Biden did not order such a despicable act (nor did Biden ever specify to "fight like hell" after telling his supporters to come to a specific time or place because it "will be wild").

Interestingly enough, however, ordering the assassination of a political rival, was EXACTLY what Trump's legal team argued a President would have the right to do under the broad umbrella of presidential immunity.

The GOP has rightly decried this political violence and called for "unity." 

This is the same political party that celebrates the January 6 carnage in which Trump's GOP supporters--whom they now call patriots--stormed the US Capitol, injured Capitol police and chanted to hang Trump's own GOP Vice President.

By the way, not only DIDN'T Trump denounce the violence (in his name) against Capitol police and the ransacking of our country's Capitol (nor did he once call to check on his VP Pence), Trump, instead, told these political thugs he "loved" them and that these perpetrators of grotesque political violence were "very special."

And Trump was the same guy who spread rumors and mocked the vicious, politically-motivated attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who yesterday tweeted about the Trump shooting: "...political violence of any kind has no place in our society. I thank God that former President Trump is safe"). 

Come to think of it, Trump was the same guy (along with his political party) who defended a "Trump train" of Texas supporters in pick-up trucks who surrounded a Biden campaign bus, ostensibly trying to force it off the road.

So, yeah, you can--and SHOULD--decry political violence and call for unity. 

And you can do that with certainty and with clarity. And without the slightest sense of irony.

Unless you're Trump's GOP.