A Trump campaign yard sign, captioning the photograph by Evan Vucci of the Associated Press at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024

EA on Al Jazeera English: The Double Threat of Trump and J.D. Vance

Trump, Political Violence, and the Future of America

EA on International Media: Political Violence and The Shootings at The Trump Rally

UPDATE, JULY 17:

I spoke with BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday about Donald Trump’s performance at the opening of the Republican National Convention, diverting from his “politics of violence” and from the important issues facing the US.

Listen to BBC Radio 5 from 2:21.37

I open the conversation with Rachel Burden:

The attempt almost immediately after Saturday’s shooting was to cast Trump as a survivor, almost a superhero. That was pushed all the way to the opening of the Convention — even that he was guided by the Messiah.

Let’s call it what it is: the cult of personality.

I also discuss Trump’s Vice Presidential pick J.D. Vance. I begin with Vance’s Islamophobia and provocation that the UK is run by “Islamists” who have access to a nuclear weapon, and continue with his hostility to migrants and asylum-seekers, to abortion even in the case or rape or incest, and to aid to Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

I conclude with an explanation of why, for the UK and other Governments, it is essential to maintain contact with the Trump camp — and to make contingency plans for the likely damage of a Trump Presidency.

Listen to BBC Radio Scotland

I chat with Hayley Millar about Trump’s “spectacle” from the shooting to the Republican National Convention.

Again declining to predict whether the outcome of the election will be shaped by these events, I explain:

You hope that those people in the middle will make their decision based on the critical issues in the campaign.

But my concern is that these issues have already taken a backseat because of the focus on “spectacle”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, JULY 16: I joined a series of international TV and radio outlets on Monday to analyze Donald Trump’s “politics of violence”, before and after the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

I explain Trump’s tactic of preying upon and feeding division, from the 2016 campaign through his Presidential term to today. I evaluate the risk to the US system. And I explain the cost of a media led by Trump’s narrative to sideline the issues — including the threat to democracy — in the most important US election in peacetime since 1865.

Listen to The Pat Kenny Show

In a 10-minute analysis, I chat with Dublin NewsTalk’s about “my concern where my native country is going”, moving from the past to the present to the future of political violence.

My concern is that given an American politics in which the issues — including the issue of gun control — are pushed aside in favor of spectacle, Trump and his supporters immediately assailed the “Left”, Joe Biden, Democrats, the media, “radicals”.

I wonder if Trump and his supporters will continue to play on the politics of violence, portraying Trump as a victim rather than perpetrator of that, all the way to November’s election

Watch France 24 English

I address the question, “Will Trump soften his edges?” for the Republican National Convention this week.

I’m still hesitant to say he has, because of his immediate reaction after that bullet grazed his ear.

Has Donald Trump really changed from that politician who tried to hold office despite the 2020 election, who has continued to insult people and to preach division since then?

Listen to BBC Hereford and Worcester from 1:38.21

In an interview combining analysis and the personal, I chat with Elliott Webb about my concerns for my native country after and beyond Saturday’s events.

Will we have a step back from political violence or will Donald Trump, whose career has been built upon playing up the politics of violence, continue this because he thinks it will propel him to the White House?

I recall the declaration of Trump after he survived COVID in October 2020:

He said to Americans, “I am immune.” There is this idea he has that he is immune from anything that can take down.

And some of his followers have been pushing the idea not just that he has been touched by the hand of God, but he is a larger-than-life figure.

He’s a reality TV star always trying to get the image. And as long as it’s a spectacle, the issues in this most important elecction since 1865, they don’t get a look in.

Asked, “How does that make me feel?”, I have to take a moment to work through the answer.

Watch India’s News 9

I joined a panel, hosted by Neha Khanna, to work through the political and social consequences of the shooting, cutting through Trump’s spectacle and highlighting his challenge to the US system.

Watch from 17:22:

Watch Al Arabiya English

I joined Riz Khan on Monday for a look at the future of American politics and society during and beyond the Presidential election.