By CARLOS SAPIR
Donald Trump was about an inch away from death on July 13, taking a bullet to the ear but seemingly still in fine shape after a gunman opened fire on him at a campaign rally. A suspected shooter was killed, and has been identified by the authorities as a 20-year-old registered Republican named Thomas Matthew Crooks.
News of the attack was met with an immediate outpouring of sympathy and public cries for calm from the bourgeois parties and press, with everyone from Biden to AOC denouncing “political violence” and wishing Trump a speedy recovery. They have an obvious, self-interested motive in these condemnations: the assassination of bourgeois political candidates threatens the ability of the electoral system to lure voters into what is portrayed as an efficient, effective, and unflappable political process.
Immediately, rumors circulated speculating that the entire attack was a ruse to boost Trump’s popularity, although this seems unlikely. Even media outlets unfavorable to Trump, which initially reported headlines such as “loud noises heard at Trump rally” while events were unfolding, have now confirmed Trump’s injuries, a bystander fatality, and a suspect killed on site. Given Trump’s level of unpopularity, an assassination attempt is far from implausible.
In the meantime, some Republican politicians blamed the Democrats for the shooting. Soon after the assassination attempt, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who many have considered to be the frontrunner for selection as the vice presidential candidate on Trump’s ticket, said: “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” [At the Republican National Convention, on July 15, Trump confirmed that Vance will be his running mate. — Editors]
It seems likely that surviving this attack will boost Trump’s electoral chances. Even had the assassination attempt succeeded, its effect on the election would have been uncertain—removing Donald Trump does not remove the politics of his allies throughout the U.S. government and the broader ruling class. What is even more likely is that this will increase the degree of state repression against protests and social movements. We could see police forces and local governments throughout the country trying to use the pretext of threats of political violence to ban protests and responding to them with greater use of force.
Even if Trump loses the election, a second term by Biden will do nothing significant to stop the right wing from continuing to gain strength (including whatever emerges from the Trumpist MAGA movement). The Democrats’ gleeful adoption of reactionary measures against immigration and against gender-affirming health care represents immediate attacks against the oppressed even as the party concedes ideological ground to the far right.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s failure to address economic pain felt by working people provides the impetus for people to distrust the unions and social justice organizations that have backed the Democrats in lockstep, and instead turn to right-wing solutions. We cannot defeat the far right by propping up the leadership of the capitalist system that feeds its growth; we need to present an independent political alternative to capitalism that can defeat it outright.
Assassination attempts are not an effective tactic for the struggle against capitalism. As Trotsky wrote in 1911, terrorism against the ruling class demobilizes the working class, and picks a battle with the full force of the state on extremely unfavorable terrain. The key strategic insight of Marxism is that it is workers’ direct participation in economic production that—if organized—would allow us to take over society. Our political power can only be built on the basis of control over production, control that cannot be trivially taken by force because it requires living workers to carry it out.
While it may be cathartic to see hated politicians meet their demise, capitalism has no shortage of would-be standard bearers who would gladly fill the shoes left behind by a “martyr.” To win against capitalism, it is not enough to take potshots against its façade; we need to strike at the roots of its power. For now, we are about to see once more how the state lashes out after someone shoots at the king and misses. But perhaps the best advice for this moment is the famous adage by Joe Hill: “Don’t mourn, organize!”
