The world sees a strong American leader even amid ominous division.
Law enforcement officers stand guard as protesters pass Chief Justice John Roberts’s house in Chevy Chase, Md., June 8, 2022. PHOTO: NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES
Although the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump failed, it was part of a long and growing pattern of threats and violence that can be fatal to American society.
This need not be a plot. It may simply reflect a set of dangerous attitudes and actions that have been building for years.
On May 9, 1992, the New York Times published the names of jurors who acquitted the policemen who used force when arresting Rodney King. The story included the communities in which the jurors lived and other identifying information about them.
Whatever we may think about Rodney King, the police or the jurors, we need to think long and hard about what kind of world we are creating if jurors decide cases based on their own personal safety or that of their families.
This applies to witnesses and judges as well—including justices of the Supreme Court. Yet no legal action was taken when mobs gathered outside the homes of justices, in defiance of federal law.
At the Supreme Court itself, Sen. Chuck Schumer, addressing a protesting mob outside, identified two justices by name and said: “You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
Another protesting group of critics identified both the church that another justice attended and the school her children attended. They suggested that people “voice your anger” by demonstrating there.
“Free speech” has been invoked in defense of such harassments and threats. But an illegal act does not become legal just because you use free speech while doing it. If the man trying to assassinate Donald Trump had said “I hate you” while shooting, it was still attempted murder.
Over the years, too many people have used too many clever words to play down threats and violence. “No justice, no peace” has been one of the more fashionable phrases. But some people’s idea of justice is some other people’s idea of injustice. Are we to condone all sorts of threats and violence unless and until there is unanimity?
If one side keeps getting away with threats and violence, it is only a matter of time before their opponents also start using threats and violence. At that point, whatever they initially disagreed about is no longer the issue. It is now a question of revenge and counter-revenge, especially for unforgivable acts on both sides. And no compromise on the original issues can stop that.
If anything positive can be salvaged from this ominous attempt on Donald Trump’s life, it may be his defiant response to being shot at. It may be important to let foreign enemies know that there are still some strong American leaders that they may have to deal with.
Thomas Sowell is one of the world's leading economists and intellectuals of the classical liberal school of economic thought. Although he was a student of Milton Friedman, Sowell has said that he was a Marxist "during the decade of my 20s". One of his earliest professional publications was a sympathetic examination of Marxist thought vs. Marxist–Leninist practice. What began to change his mind toward supporting free market economics, he said, was studying the possible impact of minimum wages on unemployment of sugar industry workers in Puerto Rico, as a U.S. Department of Labor intern. Workers at the department were surprised by his questioning, he said, and he concluded that "they certainly weren't going to engage in any scrutiny of the law".
This article was originally published by the Wall Street Journal.
