Assassination attempt highlights dangers

AS IFTHEWORLD does not have enough major problems, threats of major military conflagration, the mounting threats of the effects of climate change, the horrific genocide in Gaza and hunger and starvation in many parts of Africa, to name a few, last week’s attempted assassination of the controversial US politician Donald Trump, has fuelled more fears not just in the USA but all over the world. Trump was shot and wounded right on the eve of his expected confirmation as the presidential candidate of the Republican party which is holding its Convention this week.

The attempted assassination came amidst mounting concerns, not only in the USA, about the political leadership of the self-appointed “leader of the democratic world”. As the presidential election in November looms near, millions are worried about the choices put before them by the two dominant political parties. The two likely candidates are those who contested the 2020 presidential elections, Trump and the victor, current President Joe Biden. Whichever one of these two emerges as winner, the USA, and the “free world” face the prospect of an octogenarian in the White House.

Those fears have been dramatically heightened in recent times by the public evidence of the physical and mental shortcomings of President Biden, causing great embarrassment not just to his Democratic Party and administration, but to the standing of the United States in the world. It is hardly comforting that his challenger and increasingly likely conqueror is Trump, both on account of his age as well as his bellicose stance on many issues.

At a time when the world’s population is being swollen by more and more educated,

skilled and ambitious young people, the choices of political leadership seem more and more to be limited to those at the other end of the age scale. No wonder that more and more young people are losing faith in politics and the choices being put before them. Even in developing countries where the youthful population predominates, the problem exists.

This can have serious implications for the future of democracy. Already there are all kinds of trends and theories being spread through the internet, including violent ones. That same internet also provides information giving ready access to illegal firearms, including the manufacture of home-assembled weapons. It is hardly comforting that Trump’s alleged assailant was a 20-year old from Trump’s own Republican Party.

The Republicans, and Trump in particular, have earned notoriety for their support of the right to own arms, not just small arms, but high-powered weapons such as the AR-15 semi-automatic high-powered rifle allegedly used in the assassination attempt.

These are dangerous times for the world as a whole and sadly, both the mainstream media and social media are likely to guide world opinion along all sorts of distracting issues rather than seriously examine where the world is heading. We are all in collective danger.