{"id":165141,"date":"2025-11-28T13:57:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T21:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=165141"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T21:57:40","slug":"the-shot-that-changed-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=165141","title":{"rendered":"The Shot That Changed America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Caldwell writes July 13, 2025<\/a>: Certainly, the attack shaped the election. It changed the moral climate. In the spring of 2024, four criminal prosecutions dating to Trump\u2019s first term approached resolution almost simultaneously. They had been strung along by Democratic Party prosecutors to fall just then, in election season, for maximum dissuasive effect. Oddly, the New York case in which Trump\u2019s opponents prevailed was the weakest and most convoluted of them. Trump was now a \u201cconvicted felon.\u201d But an argument persisted on the campaign trail that summer over whether Trump was being righteously held to account for his own corruption, or persecuted by adversaries who were corrupt themselves. The bullet fired at Trump settled that controversy. Not in any logical way, of course. But in an emotional way it validated the notion that \u201cthey\u201d\u2014meaning something in society and the spirit of the times\u2014were out to destroy Trump.<\/p>\n

It thus reinforced a shift that has been evident in American politics for quite some time. Voters used to respond to rational appeals based on policy differences. Now they prefer emotional appeals based on group allegiances. Pundits usually point out this change only to deplore the new system\u2019s superficiality. But it\u2019s not that simple. The \u201cpolicy debates\u201d in the old system were often phony. Having conducted them, the political parties went off and did what they wanted anyway. Voting publics prefer the new populist style because it actually gives them more information. Conservative policy wonks used statistics to deplore mass immigration, but then did nothing. Trump blustered and burbled\u2014but then acted.<\/p>\n

The striking thing about Trump\u2019s behavior on July 13, 2024, was that it was excellent, and it was excellent in a way that was unreflective and spontaneous. Everything about it was at odds with the American postwar conception of leadership. In a culture where equality of opportunity is everything, the public came to believe there was something reprehensible about the idea that anyone has any special aptitude for anything. We\u2019re not living in a democracy, they felt, unless anyone can go out and become a leader, through hard work or a degree-granting course. Nothing could be more repugnant than the notion that leadership is something you either have or you don\u2019t. And yet here was Trump, in a moment of disruption, behaving like a born leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Caldwell writes July 13, 2025: Certainly, the attack shaped the election. It changed the moral climate. In the spring of 2024, four criminal prosecutions dating to Trump\u2019s first term approached resolution almost simultaneously. They had been strung along by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42952],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christopher-caldwell"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t