‘We live in dangerous times’: Two Trump assassination attempts in two months reveals landscape of political violence

With two assassination attempts on a presidential candidate in two months, the Secret Service spokesperson standing at the podium in West Palm Beach, Florida, summarized it best: “We live in dangerous times.”

The attempts on Donald Trump’s life – just 64 days apart – shine a light on the current landscape of political violence during what has become a vicious and, at times dark, presidential campaign.

First came thenear miss at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 when Trump was clipped on the ear by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. With blood streaming down his face, it was a moment of defiance for the Trump campaign as the former president pumped his fist into the air and shouted: “Fight, fight, fight!”

This time, on September 15, Trump was playing golf at his West Palm Beach club when suspected gunman, Ryan Routh, aimed an SKS-style rifle through the bushes round the course perimeter. The alleged attack was foiled when a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of the gun sticking out and quickly leapt into action, authorities said.

History is stained with the blood of four presidents – Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F Kennedy – all of who were assassinated while in office.

Theodore Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt three years after he left office, while Ronald Reagan was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981 as an incumbent.

There were two attempts on Gerald Ford’s life in the same month – September 1975 – while he was president.

But two assassination attempts on a former president in such a short space of time in today’s world has set off several alarm bells – and raised questions as to what may have gone wrong.

At Sunday