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"The Trump terror attack is a terrible event. It is a stark example showing the dramatic hatred between the Democratic and Republican parties and the politically divided reality of the United States. The divide is unbelievably deep."

On the 14th (local time), a day after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, an American met at Trump Tower evaluated the incident this way. Identifying himself as a Republican supporter, he said, "This country is completely divided," and "terrorists are violently expressing their anger toward political views they disagree with." He repeatedly described the situation as "horrible." Other supporters met at the rally for former President Trump that day also strongly condemned the shooting, saying that terrorist acts against politicians must be eradicated.

Watching the footage of the assassination attempt on former President Trump the previous day, many times I breathed a sigh of relief. The bullet that grazed Trump's ear was only a few centimeters away from his face; had it been closer, the bullet could have pierced his head, resulting in a tragedy. Not only the United States but the entire world was nearly thrown into great chaos. Various unconfirmed conspiracy theories about the shooter, who is currently under investigation, have spread, and conversely, this could have led to retaliatory terrorism by Trump’s hardline supporters.

Some in American society view the shooting incident, which occurred two days before the Republican National Convention, Trump’s presidential campaign kickoff, as an eruption of the festering inflammation in the deeply divided American political scene. American politics has long been polarized. Both the Republican and Democratic parties are accustomed to politics of confrontation and opposition rather than cooperation and compromise. Last year, the Republican Party impeached House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a fellow party member, led by hardliners within the party, because he tried to cooperate with the Democrats to pass a temporary budget bill. The removal of the House Speaker was unprecedented in the 234-year history of the U.S. Congress. Ahead of the November presidential election, President Joe Biden and former President Trump are also trading insults and negative attacks, each calling the other the worst president. With tolerance, respect, and compromise disappearing among politicians, supporters are also divided into extremes, fostering only distrust and hatred toward each other.

It is ironic that former President Trump, who was shot by the terrorist this time, is a figure skilled in politics of incitement and division. Trump has been a representative politician who gained votes through "divide and conquer" tactics and incitement. He appealed to his supporters by dividing people into whites and people of color, Native Americans and immigrants, men and women, America and the rest of the world. Moreover, he did not hesitate to incite violence based on a fanatical fandom politics. The January 6 Capitol riot, where he incited his supporters to riot to overturn the 2020 election defeat, was a decisive event that destroyed democracy by combining hatred, division, and fandom politics.

Physical terrorism against politicians is unacceptable for any reason. However, it is paradoxical that the greatest responsibility for fostering the collapse of American democracy revealed by this shooting lies with politicians who seek to benefit from divisive politics. Calls for self-reflection are rising even within American politics. Mike Johnson, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, appealed that the politics of confrontation between Democrats and Republicans is intensifying and that extreme rhetoric and confrontation must be reduced. The division, distrust, and confrontation used to gain voters’ votes shake the foundation of democracy and can ultimately manifest as extreme political terrorism. The shooting attack on former President Trump holds significant implications for our country’s political sphere, which is also filled with division rather than unity, distrust rather than trust, and confrontation rather than cooperation.