Less than 10 minutes after he took the stage at one of his political rallies, former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump was huddled away by secret service agents following multiple gun shots.
The incident occurred on Saturday, July 13 at Pennsylvania’s Butler Farm Show, where thousands of attendees gathered. Trump had been pierced by a bullet in the upper part of his right ear.
According to Dillan Bono-Lunn, Elon professor of political science and policy studies, this incident is the most significant event of the election season so far. She said she believes the shooting will continue to reverberate through the political system, as well as have unforeseen effects on the election itself.
Bono-Lunn also said it is a possibility that the attempt on his life and the resulting publicity might bring more voters together at the polls in support of Trump this November.
“Trump might receive a political bump for surviving an assassination attempt and for what will likely be an iconic photo of the election,” Bono-Lunn said. “Trump, surrounded by Secret Service agents, with blood dripping down his face, and his fist in the air and the American flag behind him. These are images that are probably going to have a lot of power and significance in the weeks ahead.”
In the crowd, one attendee was killed and identified as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, who was a firefighter and father of two daughters. Two others were critically injured and identified as 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver — both of which are in stable condition, according to ABC News.
The gunman was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by secret service agents at the scene.
National attention has turned to the active and ongoing investigation, in which Pennsylvania voter registration and Federal Election Commission data showed Crooks was a registered Republican, but donated $15 to ActBlue — a Democratic-allied organization — in 2021, according to NPR.
Bono-Lunn said she was shocked to hear about the incident and grateful that the attempt on a presidential candidate’s life was not successful.
“We as a country were millimeters away from the critical injury or death of a presidential candidate,” Bono-Lunn said. “Just given the psychic damage that that would inflict on the country, and the civil unrest that such an event might have catalyzed, we should all just breathe a sigh of relief that Trump wasn't more grievously injured.”
The attack came just days before the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, where Trump announced Senator J.D. Vance as his vice president and running mate. Trump is also the first convicted felon to ever gain the party majority on the presidential ballot.
However, Bono-Lunn said this incident could have drastic implications for the country’s entire political system — not just for the right side of the aisle.
“Before this assassination attempt, the biggest story in the country for the last two plus weeks was whether President Biden is fit to serve as president and whether he ought to step down as the party's candidate,” Bono-Lunn said. “But reports coming out today suggest that those calls for Biden to step out of the race have faded instantly after this shooting.”
Elon professor of political science and policy studies Jillian Auditori agreed that the shooting could have massive, unforeseen effects on the upcoming presidential election and emphasized the need to stay calm and informed as a voter.
“I have seen on social media both these extreme left ideas about it that say, ‘This was a plan by the Trump campaign to make him look heroic or stronger,’ or whatever, And I’ve seen similar things from the extreme right that this was the Democrats’ attempt to take out Trump,” Auditori said. “That rhetoric — or these conspiracy theories is more like it — are really damaging to our democracy and political dialog. I hope they don't gain any traction.”
With an already historic election on the way, Auditori said while she’s not quite sure where the country will be this fall, teaching and talking about it in the classroom is crucial to young voters such as Elon students.
“It's important to have difficult conversations in the classroom,” Auditori said. “It sounds like, from what we know right now, the shooter was not acting out of some political rage. … I still hope that we recognize that violence is not ever a solution, and that we do look at this event as a really close call. Things could have been so much worse, which would have really shaken our democracy.”
Bono-Lunn also recognized this importance and advocated for the Elon community to pay attention to both candidates this summer in order to be prepared to get involved when they come back to campus.
“This is likely the first presidential election that Elon students, as well as college students across the country, are able to vote in,” Bono-Lunn said. “I would encourage students all over the country, but I’ll focus on Elon students, to take an interest over this summer in both parties’ conventions and their platforms, and to start thinking about their plans for civic engagement in the fall.”
Bono-Lunn suggested that students go to Elon Votes for more information and resources and emphasized that she hopes students will take advantage of opportunities on campus to engage with issues and candidate platforms in the fall.
“This might take volunteering for a campaign, or staying up-to-date or learning more about issues,” Bono-Lunn said. “But then of course, perhaps most importantly, is plan to vote in November — whether that's at home or at Elon.”
In order to stay up-to-date with the election, Auditori said she frequently consumes news from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and NPR. With the exception of NPR which is free to all users, Elon University students are all given access to these news subscriptions.
Bono-Lunn, who will teach multiple sections of public policy in the fall, also commented on the necessity to be able to discuss politics in a respectful manner.
“Faculty and the department always try to emphasize healthy, evidence-based, respectful dialog across differences,” Bono-Lunn said. “The assassination attempt doesn't necessarily change how I teach, but it is yet another reminder about the temperature of political discourse in the country. And how we as faculty — whether a political science department or elsewhere — ought to be aware of that and cognizant of that national context when we approach potentially contentious topics in the classroom.”
With both Trump and Biden, along with many politicians on both sides of the aisle, condemning the use of political violence, Bono-Lunn expressed that this incident could be an opportunity for the nation to come together.
“In Biden's words, we all have a responsibility to do that. So I think we should all take that responsibility seriously,” Bono-Lunn said. “This is perhaps seeing that we're actually not so different, even if we have strongly held political beliefs that differ from one another.”
In the event that the assassination attempt had been successful, Bono-Lunn said it could have spelled disaster for the future of the country’s democracy.
“We're speaking in hypotheticals, but I think it would have been quite dangerous for our country in terms of getting to a place where we could discuss policy differences with any semblance of respect, or empathy or peaceful discussion,” Bono-Lunn said. “It would have exacerbated some of the volatility that we've seen over the past few years in ways that I really shudder to think about.”
While Auditori will be teaching American government in the fall, and thus a little less focused on the presidential election itself, she said it is still important to acknowledge the ramifications this incident will have and could have had on the nation.
“It's really important that we have a choice in our elections, and if we take away one of those choices — even if someone replaces that choice at this time — it wouldn't feel like a fair election,” Auditori said. “I don’t mean fair in the sense that votes aren’t counted or ballots aren’t correctly filled out, but I mean in the sense of we don't have the candidates that we've chosen. It would feel like a punch in the gut for democracy.”
Now more than ever, Auditori emphasized the importance of being able to uphold democracy together — no matter the political differences.
“Maybe we can step back as a nation and realize that our democracy is really fragile, and we need to be engaged in that democratic process at all levels in order to sustain it,” Auditori said. “And that means voting, of course, and also being passionate about politics — but not crazy about politics. And not engaging in violence or behavior that is disrespectful or demeaning to people that disagree with you.”