Trump's Chance to Temper the Hyperbolic Rhetoric

Donald Trump
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr. Creative commons license.
Created: 15 Jul, 2024
Updated: 18 Jul, 2024
3 min read

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr

 

For months, President Biden and many prominent Democrats have warned that former President Donald Trump is a “threat to democracy.” 

In the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump, leaders on both sides of the aisle publicly called for unity and to tone down extreme and hyperbolic language.

But those calls have been better in theory, than practice.

On Monday, for example, US District Court Judge Alleen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, just two days after Trump was shot in Pennsylvania and hours before the Republican National Convention. 

Within minutes, the Stop Republicans PAC sent out an email to Democratic supporters calling on them to sign a petition to impeach Judge Cannon. The email says “Cannon manipulated the rules to help Trump” and “let Trump off the hook.”

Stop Republicans PAC

Judge Cannon dismissed the case on the grounds that “Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.” The decision comes a couple weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity

IVP Donate

Stop Republicans PAC, instead, tells voters that Judge Cannon simply manipulated the rules. Now, it's time to impeach her.

On Sunday evening, however, Biden called for Americans to unify behind the shared belief that political violence is never justified. He said the political rhetoric in the country has become "too heated" and "it's time to cool it down."

Even prominent New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman has gone so far as to claim that if Trump is re-elected, it would be “the last real national election America holds for a very long time.”

Some Democrats have tried to push back against world-ending rhetoric, like US Rep. Jared Golden, who comforted both Democrats and Republicans by saying that US elections have “withstood civil war, world wars, acts of terrorism” and survived.

Golden explained that the democratic process would endure another Trump presidency.

But calmer voices are drowned out in a partisan political environment that emboldens and incentivizes hyper-partisanship.

And to date, Trump has not been a calming voice.

Instead, his pitch to voters has been largely focused on painting our institutions as irreversibly corrupted … unless he wins. 

Let Us Vote : Sign Now!

“If we don’t win, I think our country is finished.” Trump says at his rallies.

But following the attempt on his life, Trump posted on Truth Social that it "is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans." He also said he rewrote his RNC speech to focus on unity, not on attacking Biden. 


Trump Truth Social

The message to the public is to unify, but a behind the scenes look shows that the heated partisan rhetoric continues. In response to Judge Cannon's decision, Trump turned again to Truth Social, railing against “Witch Hunts,” including the “January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C.”

Both sides have used their platforms and their supporters to claim that the “other side” is the pinnacle of corruption and tyranny and have raised the stakes so high that the existence of the US as we know it is in the balance.

It's not a very hopeful message for anyone who is not already in their political camp.

On Thursday, Trump is likely to deliver one of the most watched political speeches in the history of the world. The question is, will he be talking to his convention, or the world he says only he can unify?

In this article

Related articles

businessman holding his hands to his face.
New Poll: Half of US Voters Say They Voted For 'Lesser of Two Evils' in 2024
Photo by  Citizen Data polled US voters following the 2024 elections and found that nearly half (47%...
09 Dec, 2024
-
2 min read
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang: Democrats Have Only Themselves to Blame
Photo Credit: ...
11 Nov, 2024
-
2 min read

Latest articles

Grey ballot box with a white ballot going into it and the New Mexico flag in the background.
Opening the Door: How New Mexico Reformed Its Primary Elections and What Others Can Learn
More than 330,000 independent voters will have access to state-administered primary elections in future New Mexico elections after the legislature passed SB 16 in March to end the state’s use of closed primaries....
29 May, 2025
-
5 min read
Dean Phillips
Dean Phillips Breaks Ranks: A Firsthand Rejection of the Duopoly That Controls American Democracy
In the shadow of a damning new campaign exposé, the only elected Democrat to challenge President Biden in 2024 speaks out about what really happened and what must change....
29 May, 2025
-
5 min read
Gavel on judge's desk.
Lawsuit Challenges Independent Voter Suppression under Closed Primaries in Maryland
A new lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Open Primaries Education Fund along with the law firm, Angor, Rapaport, & Skainy (DATRS), asserts that Maryland is violating its own constitution and the voting rights of nearly 1 million independent voters in the state by denying them access to taxpayer-funded primary elections....
28 May, 2025
-
3 min read