Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, urged Americans to collectively step back from the edge after an attempted assassination of Donald Trump enflamed temperatures across the nation.
The United States is facing its deepest political crisis in over three years, after a bullet fired from a would-be assassin’s AR-15 rifle grazed Trump’s head, leaving him bleeding from the ear but otherwise not injured.
One man was killed and two wounded before Secret Service sharpshooters took out the shooter.
“Hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity,” wrote Altman, whose ChatGPT helped launch the AI revolution.
thinking a lot about what a difference an inch can make to history.
— Sam Altman (@sama) July 14, 2024
hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity.
i am happy…
His sentiment was echoed by Trump’s wife, Melania, who warned the “fabric of our gentle nation is tattered”, before going on to praise those reaching out across the political divide.
“Let us remember that when the time comes to look beyond the left and the right, beyond the red and the blue, we all come from families with the passion to fight for a better life together," the former First Lady wrote on Sunday.
Democrat in Congress fires aide over violent rhetoric
The attempt on Trump's life follows a divisive Supreme Court decision earlier this month granting sitting Presidents blanket immunity.
Lawyers for the former president, seeking to free him of any guilt associated with the events on Jan. 6 three years ago, successfully argued the country's head of state can break the law provided his action can be deemed an official act.
This led to comments, including from a BBC journalist, that Biden was now free to have his opponent assassinated under the arguments of Trump’s own legal team.
Much like David Aaronovitch of the BBC, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman was also forced to clarify his prior comments wishing that the former president was an “actual martyr.”
Meanwhile, some on the left have been outright blunt in expressing their genuine frustration that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks failed.
An aide to Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi was sacked for recommending other would-be killers first take shooting lessons so they wouldn’t miss.
Trump has long availed himself of similar violent rhetoric, pledging to root out American opponents he branded "vermin".
But with pollsters saying the election is now Trump’s to lose, he’s expected to take a more presidential tone when he formally accepts the nomination on behalf of the party this week.
'No mobilization without polarization'
With the ideological fronts gradually hardening over the past two decades, politicians are seeing the number of impressionable swing voters declining.
As a result, emphasis has shifted to ensuring your base is more motivated to head to the polls than that of your opponent.
Against this backdrop, inflammatory rhetoric serves a key purpose, according to election strategist and former aide to President Obama Julius van de Laar: getting out the vote.
“There’s a basic principle in political communication observed in particular from the more recent campaigns, which says there’s no mobilization without polarization,” van de Laar told German broadcaster ARD on Sunday. “This however leads to the open rifts [in society] widening further.”
Following the attempt on Trump’s life, President Biden called for temperatures to cool.
His campaign has already shelved a series of attack ads that were expected to run during this week’s Republican convention.
“I am happy to see most democrats having the grace to step up and lead on this point and resisting the urge to both-sides it.” said Open AI’s Altman.
