Beltway Insider: Biden Condemns Violence, Trump Grazed, GOP Convention, Blame Game, Media Rage, Israel/Gaza, Shannen Doherty

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 14 July 2024 09:28; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden condemned the attempted assassination of former President Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, saying, "There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com for the period ending July 14, 2024, increased by 0.2% to 37.2% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.4% to 56.8% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Biden, Harris Condemns Assassination Attempt

President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris strongly condemned the attempted assignation attempt of former president and presumptive GOP nominee and convicted felon, Donald J. Trump and praised the Secret Service, first responders who ushered the former president to safety.

Trump Grazed by Assassin's Bullet

Former President Donald J. Trump, the target of an assassination attempt by a 20-year-old registered Republican voter, was grazed in his right ear, inches from what could have been a catastrophic event, at a presidential campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The nation will discover as the shooter's life will be examined, that at 20 this would have been his first election. Although a registered Republican, he is of a generation that is raised on rhetoric, and the belief that violence is acceptable. He will be presented as obsessed with firearms, and with the raging debate of gun control and gun violence will be considered just another deranged shooter. His limited social media presence does not provide strong evidence of any fringe group affiliation.

He was aging into a political process that can cause deeply divided feelings and has no place for the younger generation. He is a disgruntled youth from within the party. Trump's "Make America Great Again," campaign slogan is a play on the World War II generation and has no viable place for youth.

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Republicans Seize the Day

While the attempted assassination has been universally condemned, many House Republicans have been quick to single out remarks by President Biden, in recent days, as the instigator for the shooting, which is simply untrue, and a pivot by House Republicans to undermine the president's re-election campaign.

"Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) pointed to the "bull's eye" comment by Biden earlier in the week. "Joe Biden sent the orders," Collins wrote on X. He later added, "The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, Pa., should immediately file charges against Joe Biden for inciting an assassination,"' The Washington Post reported.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, (R-LA), was quick to blame President Biden's comments as well, saying, that while he knew Biden did not, in any way, mean his "bull's eye" statement as a call to arms, the message of those two words incited the violence the nation is witnessing.

Sentiments of democratic and media responsibility were echoed in the Senate Chambers as potential Trump running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance blasted the Biden campaign for the constant use of words that demonize the former president as unfit, a fascist, morally and ethically corrupt, and generally unfit to serve the nation.

"Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), another Trump ally, shared a similar sentiment. "Let's be clear: This was an assassination attempt aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse," he wrote on social media," The Washington Post reported.

There will not be a media pause, although the Republicans will try to pressure Biden into a cooling-off period, both parties will continue to throw gasoline rhetoric on the fire, and with the intensity of the next few months, the political fires will only increase.

Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After the attempted assassination attempt, it is expected the event will increase security and be scaled back, somewhat. However, with the Republican rhetoric machine in high gear, the messaging will likely be to blame the Democrats who caused the shooting and ruined our big event.

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America's Civil War - Media Fueled Rage

The intensity of the media-fueled rhetoric in recent years has intensified, and more often we see disgruntled citizens taking matters into their own hands to disastrous results.

The media's effort to elicit strong emotions, in the politically divided climate, is fueled by a desire to increase rating shares, unfortunately, the many citizens who hear this constant barrage of sharp, divisive messaging are not mentally equipped to handle the strong emotions generated by this mental diet of constant media rage.

Like Road Rage, media-motivated political rage has become a genuine concern and an all too real truth in America. The assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump is not the first time, citizens have taken the law into their own hands in what they believe is a united cause.

The January 6, 2021, Capitol Siege was the first time in modern history that American citizens became so enraged over the outcome of a presidential election that they decided after being encouraged by the defeated president, "to fight like hell," marched, as an army, to the Capitol building, with the intent to disrupt the Presidential election certification process.

Since the Trump Administration, America has been shaken, undergoing constant seismic tremors throughout Congress, the courts, and the people. Trump used a hostile takeover campaign, disinformation, and lies to destroy his 2016 democratic challenger and win the White House. He runs a divisive campaign; he did then and does now. Trump destroyed the decorum of the political process and brought mud wrestling to the main arena, he encouraged visual displays of rage against the establishment, the democrats, and the political process. He uses mind-altering tactics by a constant diet of lies, fearmongering, and hate-fueled rhetoric. Now, the fringe has responded.

Our nation has not been so sharply divided since the 1960s, the assassination attempt adds proof to the temperature of the day and the climate of the era.

Gaza's Bloody Week

Israel's war on Gaza has entered its ninth month, and this week has been one the bloodiest as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his determined effort to destroy the infrastructure of the terror organization Hamas, responsible for the October 7, 2023, coordinated attack that initiated this war.

In the first real report issued on the October 7 attack, Israel has faulted itself for not adequately protecting its citizens living close to the Gaza border.

"The report said "severe mistakes and errors" were made in the army response as Hamas overran the community. The army was underprepared, it said, and did not always prioritize civilian lives. The report detailed how in the afternoon, Israel Defense Forces units waited nearby even as residents were killed," The Washington Post reported.

More than 100 innocent Palestinians were killed in air raids on Al-Mawasi this week alone. The streets are red with innocent blood, as Netanyahu continues his hunt for Mohamed Deif, 58, Hamas chief architect, and second-in-command, who has survived seven assassination attempts.

As the Israel-Palestine war moves into its tenth month, Netanyahu's resolve is steadfast, although his obliteration methods are creating, the world over, a coalition of detractors who are calling for an immediate cease-fire, and more surgical means of achieving the end goal of dismantling and finally destroying Hamas. Palestine will recover, and while it may take twenty years, this massacre of innocent lives will be the fuel of the martyrs' future rallying cry.

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New York Turns on Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Rudy Giuliani, and once New York City Mayor, felt the sting this week, as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane of the Southern District, "threw out Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy case, paving the way for a litany of creditors, including two former Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation claim against him, to pursue and potentially seize his assets," reported The Washington Post.

Giuliani, a former New York attorney who was recently disbarred, and his name stricken from the records, lived a life of legal community entitlement and is now just one more former Trump appointee who has lost everything through their service to the former president.

Coronavirus Totals

The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from the newer variants. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

For the seven days ending July 14, 2024, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization remained constant at 775,678,432. The total worldwide death toll increased by 1,430 to 7,053,902 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated July 7, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

Donald Trump Still Unfit to Serve

Many Republicans are quick to blame President Biden, and his words, for the assassination attempt on his chief political challenger, Donald Trump. However, as the Republicans head to Milwaukee to anoint a convicted felon as the party's Presidential candidate, the nation's media, right, left, and neutral leaning, have condemned him as a man who is unfit to serve the people.

The New York Times, a traditional Democratic broadsheet, explained in an editorial board, comprised of journalists, "Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country's future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him. He is, quite simply, unfit to lead."

The Los Angeles Times editorial board explained, '"It's unbelievable that the nation is spending so much time on the question of Biden's verbal acuity, when the greatest concern ought to be that his challenger is a self-aggrandizing felon and twice-impeached election-denier. Trump fomented the Jan. 6 insurrection, shows contempt for the rule of law and shamelessly lies in pursuit of more power. He's an authoritarian who admires murderous despots, wants to jail his political enemies and has publicly flirted with declaring himself a dictator on his first day back in office," reported Poytner.org.

Shannen Doherty, Television Actress, Dies

Shannen Doherty, known for her roles on "90210" and "Charmed," died this week. She was 53. The cause was Breast Cancer, her publicist announced. The actress had been fighting the disease for nearly a decade, sharing her struggles, the optimism of remission, and the return and spread of the disease. She passed away, surrounded by friends and family, in her home.

For more information on President Joe Biden: Whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.