Americans express unease about impact of Trump shooting on election, future

Fear. Shock. Disbelief. Relief. Dread. These are just some of the emotions running through Americans' minds after former president Donald Trump was shot at on Saturday.

According to Trump, who was seen bleeding as the Secret Service whisked him off the stage at a rally in Pennsylvania, a bullet grazed his right ear. The shooter, suspected to be a 20-year-old Pennsylvania resident, was killed by police.

The attorney general’s office and the FBI said they are investigating the shooting as a possible domestic terrorism attack and assassination attempt.

Trump was able to walk away from Saturday's shooting and is now in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the Republican National Convention, where he was officially nominated as the party's presidential candidate on Monday.

Historic attack

But the attack was still the first time a US president had been shot in more than four decades after John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

This week, many Americans who spoke to TRT World said they felt rattled by the attempt on Trump's life, regardless of their politics.

That includes Gayle Damelin, a 58-year-old real estate agent from Virginia who is "one million percent opposed to Trump."

Speaking to TRT World, she said, "He's got zero character, zero decency, and is a complete disgrace. I would never have imagined Americans would elevate someone like him to the most important job… But I was horrified on Saturday. What a terrible thing to happen. I don't want that to happen to anybody."

She added, "I'm a big believer in banning assault weapons. No one needs a military-style weapon."

For Guy Christensen, an 18-year-old recent high school graduate from Pennsylvania, the attack was a sobering reminder of how polarised the United States has become.

Christensen, who plans to vote for the first time in November, told TRT World that the assassination attempt took place close to where he lives, noting that some of his friends were actually at the rally on Saturday.

"Americans who subscribe to the binary party system are convinced that the other side is the equivalent of the devil and must be stopped at any cost. They are afraid of each other," he said.

"Trump has been saying for years that (US President Joe) Biden is out to get him and attacking him in the courts. Ever since he falsely claimed that the Democrats stole the 2020 election from him. The shooting serves as dangerous fuel to those sentiments," Christensen added.

Other voters said it's the Democrats who are fueling the fire. Dr. Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, told TRT World that the party has been "demonising" his candidate for months now.

"I am not saying they are behind this, but, at the same time, the hatred emanating from the Democratic Party and some of its leaders and members of Congress is making its way down to people like this person who tried to assassinate him," Bahbah said.

Political violence

Regardless of who they are voting for, voters told TRT World they believed the shooting would help Trump's political chances.

According to Bahbah, "After the shooting, Trump waved his fist defiantly. He showed no fear. More than ever, he will now be seen as a strong leader and up to the challenge of a second term as president."

Damelin agreed, saying "there's no question he's going to win."

According to Christensen, photos of Trump after the shooting have "already vaulted him to hero status amongst many of his supporters. If Biden hadn’t already lost the election due to his senility, his role in a genocide, or the debate then this for sure puts him in the ground come November."

That said, some are still concerned about the direction the United States is moving in.

Damelin said, "I feel very upset for our country. It's not Trump who I'm worried about. It's Project 2025," which critics call a blueprint for Trump's second term if he wins. "Americans need to read and study that stuff and not just look at memes that are shared on social media."

Project 2025 calls for the purging of thousands of civil servants in government, dismantling the country's education department, severely curbing abortion access and other controversial plans.

Trump has denied ties to the document, which was created by the Heritage Foundation think tank. However, it was spearheaded by several former officials who served in Trump's administration.

Gaza consideration

But Bahbah, who is Palestinian, is more concerned with the US's foreign policy. He told TRT World that his primary reason for supporting Trump is "to punish Biden and any Democratic presidential ticket, for their unfettered support of Israel in its genocidal attacks against the Palestinians in Gaza."

"Without Biden’s funding of Israel’s war on Gaza, Israel would have been on its knees and would have been incapable of fighting a war that is now in its ninth month…The only leader in the world who Netanyahu fears is Trump. He is the only world leader that could potentially put an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict," Bahbah added.

However, Damelin said that Americans who don't vote for Biden because of the US's foreign policy should think carefully. "A lot of (those angry about Gaza) are raising their children in the United States and they have to care about the future of their children."

Regardless of who wins in November, Christensen, a TikTok influencer who mainly talks about politics in his channel, has spoken passionately about Palestine, and pointed out the irony of officials from across the spectrum coming together to condemn political violence.

"A majority of these same politicians do not bat an eye when it comes to the violence in Gaza they have been lobbied to support that has murdered over 40,000 human beings in less than a year," he added.