The calls for national unity following a shooting at a Trump rally lasted less than a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump, President Biden\u2002<\/u><\/a>gave prime-time remarks urging Americans to lower the temperature of political rhetoric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Days after surviving the shooting<\/u><\/a>, Trump delivered an address at the Republican National Convention in which he extended an olive branch to Americans who had not supported him and said the country must put its disagreements aside to reach its potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after Biden ended his candidacy and Vice President Harris became Trump\u2019s likely opponent, the discourse has returned to typically heated levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has torn into Harris as a \u201clunatic,\u201d \u201cdumb as a rock,\u201d and \u201ccrazy,\u201d while some Republicans suggested her race and gender have played a role in her rise to the top of the party. Asked Thursday if the country could survive a Harris presidency, Trump claimed it could not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot. I became nice,\u201d Trump told supporters Wednesday in North Carolina, where he tore into Harris at a rally. \u201cAnd when you\u2019re dealing with these people, they\u2019re very dangerous people, you can\u2019t be too nice. So if you don\u2019t mind, I\u2019m not going to be nice. Is that OK?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats have also gone on offense, seeking to get under Trump\u2019s skin by calling him weak, highlighting his litany of legal problems and warning of the dangers of a possible second Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resumed attacks reflect what is shaping up to be a brutal and personal presidential campaign, just as the last two involving Trump were. And it underscores just how deep the divides are across political lines in the U.S. even in the face of shocking and tragic events like the attempt on Trump\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt just reflects how polarized the country is right now, and that polarization is run through all the elected officials, candidates and the electorate,\u201d said Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we want to look for any sort of event in the past that would tell us this would happen, I would say go back to COVID,\u201d Reeher added. \u201cWhen COVID first started spreading in the U.S., one of the things that was said was it could be the cataclysmic event that helps bring the nation together. In fact, just the opposite happened. The whole discussion of COVID became politicized and polarized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The July 13 assassination attempt at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., spurred talk among Trump and his allies about how the brush with death had changed him. Trump himself said he had ripped up his planned address<\/u><\/a> at the GOP convention in favor of a more unifying speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his address, Trump told the country, \u201cAs long as our energies are spent fighting each other, our destiny will remain out of reach. And that\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAny disagreements have to be put aside, and go forward united as one people, one nation, pledging allegiance to one great, beautiful \u2026 American flag,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as the contours of the presidential race changed, so did Trump\u2019s tone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden, who was trailing Trump across the board in the polls and was viewed as a weakened candidate, dropped out of the race and was effectively replaced by Harris, who quickly sparked a wave of enthusiasm among rejuvenated Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, clearly frustrated by the shake-up, responded with a barrage of attacks<\/u><\/a>. He called the move by Democrats \u201cundemocratic\u201d and equated it to a \u201ccoup.\u201d He has bashed Harris as a \u201cradical-left lunatic\u201d and suggested she could not pass the bar exam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n