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07/16/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/16/2024 19:45

Can Biden Show Empathy for Trump While Declaring Him Unfit to Serve

Can Biden Show Empathy for Trump While Declaring Him Unfit to Serve?

Boston University political analysts see echoes of an attempt on Teddy Roosevelt's life, and say the shooting "buys Biden time" to prove his candidacy-but only briefly

President Biden addressed the nation Sunday, calling for an end to divisive rhetoric after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Photo by AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Politics

Can Biden Show Empathy for Trump While Declaring Him Unfit to Serve?

Boston University political analysts see echoes of an attempt on Teddy Roosevelt's life and say the shooting "buys Biden time" to prove his candidacy-but only briefly

July 16, 2024
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President Joe Biden's homework assignment would challenge the most gifted politician: calm the country after Saturday's assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, show empathy for his wounded political rival, and yet at the same time, continue making the case that the Republican nominee is unfit to be president again.

"I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate," Biden said in his first attempt at striking a balance, a televised address from the Oval Office on Sunday. He called on the nation to "cool it" with divisive rhetoric-even as "inside job" and other misinformation trended on social media after the thwarted assassination-while also vowing to plug "our record" in his own reelection campaign.

Biden was already facing calls to step aside following his wobbly debate performance last month. And this week's Republican National Convention was expected to attract a lot of attention-and that was before Trump arrived with a patch over his injured ear, trumpeting his survival of the attempt on his life.

History offers Biden few guideposts for how to proceed politically. In the last century-plus, two presidential candidates survived assassination attempts, but only one continued campaigning. Alabama Governor George Wallace, seeking the 1972 Democratic nomination, was shot four times; his grievous injuries ended his bid. In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt, pursuing the White House on a third-party ticket, defied a gunshot wound and remained in the race, losing that November.

So what is Biden's path forward? He could frame the attempt on Trump's life as an assault on democracy-"to condemn violence and attacks against free and fair elections and then, separately, push ahead with differentiating himself from Trump," says Boston University's Amy Shanler, an associate professor of the practice of public relations at the College of Communication.

For political and historical perspective on Biden's challenges, BU Today spoke to Bruce Schulman, the William E. Huntington Professor of History at the College of Arts & Sciences, and Thomas Whalen, an associate professor of social sciences at the College of General Studies.

Q&A

With Bruce Schulman and Thomas Whalen

BU Today:How does Biden thread the political needle? Do you think he succeeded in Sunday's televised address to the nation?

Whalen: I think he did a decent job. But you can talk all you want about bringing down the temperature and civility. I would imagine after the [GOP] convention, he'll go pretty hard. You already see that in some of the comments about [Trump's pick for vice president] J. D. Vance-they're going after him hard. He wants to attack Trump's policies, but Trump supporters will think that is a direct attack on Trump.

Biden has to go on the attack, because he's behind in most polls, particularly the swing states. You cannot sit back and have a gentleman's campaign with your pinkie finger up while you're sipping your tea. I think he's going to tone down the Trump-is-a-threat-to-democracy argument, which is unfortunate, because I feel that he is a threat to our democratic institutions, given his authoritarian rhetoric.

That's the irony of the assassination attempt-Trump and his allies have used violent invective against Biden and the Democrats. Also, he's been a firm opponent to gun control, especially a ban on assault weapons. And what was used in the assassination attempt? An assault weapon.

BU Today:Are there lessons from the attempt on Theodore Roosevelt's life in 1912?

Schulman: The attempted assassination of Roosevelt suggests some interesting parallels to the current moment. Even though the Republican Party denied renomination to its former standard-bearer, and a former president, in Roosevelt-forcing him to campaign as a third-party candidate, unlike Trump, who will receive the Republican Party's enthusiastic renomination-T.R. was, like Trump, a former president trying to regain the White House and a politician with a vast, loyal, personal following.

And while we as yet don't know the motive of Trump's would-be assassin, John Schrank, the man who shot Roosevelt, claimed that he did so out of fear that Roosevelt, who had not respected the decision of his party to renominate William H. Taft, would not accept the result of the November general election, thereby threatening the democratic character of the United States. That worry, irrational as it may have been in 1912, certainly has echoes in the current discourse.

Whalen: Roosevelt's shooting didn't slow down the attacks. That was a pretty divisive, bitter campaign. It didn't help that Theodore Roosevelt split the Republican Party, going against his best friend and handpicked successor, William Howard Taft. I think that's a legitimate comparison-that did not lessen the rancor of that divisive year. It's important to point out as well that despite an initial wave of sympathy for Roosevelt, he lost the general election [to Democrat Woodrow Wilson].

BU Today:What can the president do-in paid advertising, free media, and campaign speeches-to calm the country while arguing against electing Trump?

Schulman: In 2020, Joe Biden cast himself not so much as the opponent to Trump as the antidote to Trump and Trumpism. He was a normal politician-someone without the drama, the divisiveness, the attacking rhetoric; he would quiet things down, restore normalcy, lower the temperature. He tried to cast himself as a unifier, a competent, calming presence-a little boring even, and that was a good thing. In this campaign, he has attacked Trump relentlessly and personally. He has pretty much tried to match Trump in the personal, mocking tone of his critique. He has painted Trump as a mortal threat to American democracy. Just before the shooting, he promised to amp up his attacks on Trump.

So, a return to a pose of quiet competence might in some ways benefit Biden-it might remind the electorate of what they liked about him in the first place.

Whalen: The Democrats rhetorically disarming at this point is not going to benefit them in the long term when it comes to base voters. And I haven't seen evidence, for example, that the double-haters of both parties are going to flock to Trump now because of that iconic moment where he raised his fist in defiance after the assassination attempt. I don't think you're going to find some suburban housewife in Philadelphia who is going to switch her vote to Trump, even though she's an ardent reproductive rights advocate. Trump had an opportunity with his VP pick to expand his base. If he had picked Nikki Haley-which he should have done, but he can't stand her-she could bring her moderate Republican voters. But J. D. Vance is doubling down on his base.

By bringing down his rhetoric, Biden is going to make it more possible for Trump to regain the White House, which is a good argument why Biden should step down. If you have a younger, more vigorous candidate, that would revitalize the base, which frankly, right now, has a defeatist attitude. [Vice President Kamala] Harris or [Michigan Governor Gretchen] Whitmer can bring to bear the most potent issue the Democrats have: abortion rights.

BU Today:You bring up a question: might the attempt on Trump silence Democrats who wanted the president to step aside, forcing them to swallow their doubts and accept Biden as their candidate?

Whalen: The assassination attempt buys Biden time to quiet the calls against him, because you'll look unseemly talking about Biden stepping down in the wake of the attempt. But I think in the long run, especially as they get closer to their convention in August, Democrats are going to be loudly expressing their doubts about Biden continuing on. That's probably a good thing. I know the argument-it's going to be too late. [But] Harris, the likely candidate, would inherit the infrastructure, the money. It would provide less time for the Republicans to attack her, because they've geared everything toward Biden. From Labor Day onward, it would be a short campaign, which would benefit a Harris candidacy.

Schulman: To reap any benefit [of stressing his own competence], Biden has to show he's up for the job, and he may not be able to do that. Still, the longer Biden remains the presumptive Democratic nominee, the less likely it is the party will replace him. So, if the Trump shooting diverts attention away from Biden and lets him hang on into August…

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  • Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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