Attack on Donald Trump: We’re No Longer Pretending the Thought of Death Bothers Us

Polarization has numbed us to death and violence. Following the attack on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, there are too many writers who could have spared us their opinions. Unfortunately, Janusz Palikot, Tomasz Piątek, Michał Karnowski and TV Republika, among others, did not fail to chime in.

I clearly remember the day when the mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, died. Although he was a politician clearly committed to one side, there was a kind of silence throughout Poland for the first few days. Everyone, down to the most passionately militant columnists, instinctively knew that we should carefully weigh every word.

What Has Changed in Poland between the Death of Adamowicz and the Day Donald Trump Was Attacked?

I regret to say that after 5 1/2 years, we are in a different place. Just after midnight Sunday morning in Poland, there was an attack on former U.S. President Trump, injuring the candidate and killing one of his supporters. The shooter was also killed. On the Vistula River, Janusz Palikot, an extremely discredited politician, tweeted, “A total set-up with Trump. Everything looks bogus, even from a distance. The photograph, the fist, a real Putin amateur. Of course, politicians have to wish him good health, because this will be even more painful for him if it turns out to be a hoax.”

Marcin Samsel went even further, writing, “Nice right-wing set-up. Crude, but simple works. PiS [Law and Justice Party] mafia also put on a show with the Smolensk attack.” Samsel deleted the post, but others suggest that his emotions have not cooled down.

Tomasz Piątek, who has been reliable in such situations, came to the aid of both men and performed a daring dissection of Russian-speaking internet users who he said “spent a busy night convincing everyone that the shots at Trump were not an election ploy.” The implication is that something’s up.

The Other Side, Implicitly Pro-Trump, Is No Better

Michał Karnowski of wPolityce posed the thesis that “the left and the liberals around the world consent to unlawful arrests, reduced sentences, and the shooting of their opponents,” comparing the Polish settlement of its previous government to the American attack. Telewizja Republika, on the other hand, is running photos left and right of Donald Tusk, who years ago jokingly aimed his fingers as a gun at Trump.

To be clear, I wouldn’t worry if internet trolls or just frustrated, anonymous people were behaving this way. But these posts and comments were made by people claiming to be serious and respectable — politicians, journalists, experts and so-called thought leaders.

How Will the Attack on Trump Affect the US Election? Such Questions Are a Bit Inappropriate

And of course, as always on such occasions, the commentators on duty are wondering how this will affect the result of the election. “Will Donald Trump try to leverage this in his campaign?” a reporter from TVP Info asked a guest.

I don’t know and I don’t really care. Under such circumstances, these questions are extremely inappropriate, because — let’s face it — a billionaire and election candidate with massive public support could have died. Do we really want to dissect election calculations that are secondary to this fact? A few hours after the incident?

Polarization has numbed us to death and violence; we are not moved if the victim is a hated political opponent. And that is probably the saddest takeaway from this situation.