This is the first incident of this kind to target a presidential candidate from one of the major parties in decades.
Midway through a mid-July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, he narrowly avoided being shot in the head by a shooter. A sniper killed the 20-year-old attacker with a round.
According to the FBI, he was the apparent target of another would-be assassin two months later on a Sunday afternoon while playing golf; a suspect is currently being held.
Investigators claimed that prior to the alleged incident, a man waiting in the bushes with an AK-47-style rifle was watching Trump play golf on his West Palm Beach club.
In recent years, it seems that Americans have had to acclimate to “new normals” in politics, both big and small. Partisan differences have grown more pronounced and entrenched, the public dialogue has become coarser, and the expectations for candidate conduct have weakened.
These kinds of attacks may represent yet another unavoidable new normal in light of the nationwide epidemic of gun violence. For now, though, it remains startling.
