The 2024 general presidential election is now less than four calendar months away. The United States is engulfed in perhaps the most politically polarized period in the history of the nation in the present. Currently, many polls predict an extremely close race between the former 45th president Donald Trump, and the incumbent 46th commander-in-chief Joe Biden. The election will likely be decided by several key swing states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and others. Trump is currently leading in many swing states in recent polls. Despite this, he remains a polarizing figure and the election is far from decided. However, his opponent, Joe Biden, has come under fire from fellow Democrats and media officials after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate on June 27th in which he appeared cognitively impaired and struggled to form concise sentences when answering debate questions.
In recent days, however, the focus has been shifted away from Bidens performance to a harrowing incident that occurred at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The former 45th president almost was murdered in an assassination attempt. A 20-year-old gunman named Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed atop a building several hundred yards away from Trump, possessing an AR-15 that was legally purchased by his father. While “motives” for the shooter remain unclear, it should be noted that Crooks was a registered Republican but donated to a group that supported Joe Biden’s candidacy in the 2020 election. Many Republicans have claimed that Democrats are responsible for the occurrence, claiming that politicians on the left and media allies have spewed dangerous rhetoric for years that have stoked tensions.
Crooks allegedly was a quiet, reclusive individual who attempted to join his high school shooting team but was reportedly such a poor shot that he left the tryouts after only a single day. Additionally, team members reported him making troubling comments inappropriate to the setting, and he was asked not to return.
