Not long after former President Trump was almost assassinated on stage at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart brought never-Trumper Max Boot on as a guest for The Saturday Show and duo proceeded to talk about how political violence was a problem on both sides of the aisle and wanted people to calm down before speaking about it.
“How concerned are you, or should we be, that what we are seeing there on the left side of the screen is something that we are going to see more of?” Capehart asked.
Boot proceed to rant about how America was in “a very dangerous and volatile situation” and how, “We have way too many guns in this country…” “[W]e’re also living in a very polarized partisan climate where you could easily imagine you might have extremists on either side or no side at all, just people who are driven mad by events and engage in horrible acts of violence,” he added.
Of course, then can the bothsidesing of the political violence despite much of the recent attacks coming from the left:
We saw a shooting several years ago at a congressional baseball game. We saw an attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband in his home, in San Francisco. And now whatever we've seen here today, we don't know exactly what happened, but I think it's just a reminder that we need to dial it back, we need to calm things down, we need to resort to our normal democratic process.
“And I think everybody across the political spectrum needs to unite and I think will unite in condemning any kind of violence no matter who is the target of it,” he lectured.
Capehart agreed with his own lecture warning people how he thought the assassination attempt should be talked about:
And I am glad you said that, Max, because you know, our politics can be very polarized. When we get into the discussions, you know, folks have their camps, and the language can be brisk if not brusque.
But when something like this happens in our country, when a former president of the United States is apparently injured while speaking at a campaign rally, a political campaign rally, we all have to take a step back and all have to just be mindful of just how dangerous that situation is that we are looking at. But also, we should all be mindful of how we talk about this right now and how we talk about it going forward, because it's the unity of the country right now that we should be thinking about.
Boot also fund a “silver lining” to Trump almost getting killed, unity:
And I think if there is a silver lining in a terrible incident like this it's that the hope and the expectation that it will bring people together, just to say this is completely over the line, completely unacceptable, this is not who we are as Americans. And just kind of bring us together as a nation to reject any possibility of violence in the political process.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The Saturday Show
July 13, 2024
6:37:57 p.m. Eastern(…)
JONATHAN CAPEHART: How concerned are you, or should we be, that what we are seeing there on the left side of the screen is something that we are going to see more of? And I hate to say it, but this does not happen in America in a long time, and when it does it sort of shocks the senses.
MAX BOOT: No, absolutely. I think this is a very – as you point out, Jonathan – a very dangerous and volatile situation. We have way too many guns in this country and not enough mental health care, and we’re also living in a very polarized partisan climate where you could easily imagine you might have extremists on either side or no side at all, just people who are driven mad by events and engage in horrible acts of violence.
We saw a shooting several years ago at a congressional baseball game. We saw an attack on Speaker Pelosi's husband in his home, in San Francisco. And now whatever we've seen here today, we don't know exactly what happened, but I think it's just a reminder that we need to dial it back, we need to calm things down, we need to resort to our normal democratic process.
And I think everybody across the political spectrum needs to unite and I think will unite in condemning any kind of violence no matter who is the target of it.
CAPEHART: And I am glad you said that, Max, because you know, our politics can be very polarized. When we get into the discussions, you know, folks have their camps, and the language can be brisk if not brusque.
But when something like this happens in our country, when a former president of the United States is apparently injured while speaking at a campaign rally, a political campaign rally, we all have to take a step back and all have to just be mindful of just how dangerous that situation is that we are looking at. But also, we should all be mindful of how we talk about this right now and how we talk about it going forward, because it's the unity of the country right now that we should be thinking about.
No matter what you think about the former president. No one. No elected official of either party – of any party should be the target of any kind of political violence.
BOOT: Absolutely. Any attempted assault on an officeholder or someone who is seeking office is an assault on our entire democracy, it’s an assault on our constitution, it’s an assault on the very foundations of our country, it’s completely unacceptable and horrifying.
And I think if there is a silver lining in a terrible incident like this it's that the hope and the expectation that it will bring people together, just to say this is completely over the line, completely unacceptable, this is not who we are as Americans. And just kind of bring us together as a nation to reject any possibility of violence in the political process.
(…)
