(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Prolonged silence and civility will only benefit Trump [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-14 President Biden responded appropriately (as did President Obama, Secretary Buttigieg and others) to immediately denounce political violence and send their well wishes for Trump’s recovery after the attempt on his life yesterday. Biden’s campaign also announced a suspension of its advertising, another wise move. But, for how long? Donald Trump is no ordinary candidate, and the normal rules of campaigns don’t apply when facing him. There’s nothing Joe Biden could have done differently in the first 24 hours after the incident to change the media narratives; they are a runaway freight train. His response was perfect and statesmanlike. The clock is ticking, though, and his campaign will need to go back into the aggressive attack mode it was in prior to yesterday’s event to offer perspective on the incident, and how Trump’s entire political ethos invites such violence and chaos. That shooting yesterday vividly illustrates the type of chaos, hatred, and anger America will have to reckon with if Trump returns to the White House. It will be up to Biden and his campaign team to paint that picture clearly for American voters, who may have amnesia about what it was like in Trump’s only term. Trump is the only candidate in this race who advocates violence. He did it before he announced his candidacy in 2015. He did it as a candidate. He did in the White House. He did it on January 6. He does it at his rallies today. Joe Biden does not advocate violence, nor has he ever. He’s a good man. He needs to state his opposition to political violence repeatedly, but he also needs to call out Trump for stoking violence throughout his political career. This is a nasty election fight and Biden needs to take yesterday’s event and pin it on the only candidate who is advocating violence and civil war in this election, Donald Trump. What happened yesterday is a natural outgrowth of Trump’s repeated violent rhetoric and references to civil war. Donald Trump fired the first rhetorical shots, and all of the subsequent shots, in this escalating dark invitation to violence as a feature of our national elections. Our nation’s unfettered access to guns — and the primacy of American fanatical gun culture that Trump self-servingly defends — is the foundation on which this attack happened. This is no time to play nice. This is a moment to take the gloves off (rhetorically speaking of course). Karl Rove, Carville and other messaging strategists would know what to do. Hopefully the Biden campaign will seize this moment to shake up the race in our favor. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/14/2254217/-Prolonged-silence-and-civility-will-only-benefit-Trump?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/