What a couple of weeks it has been

At this rate, it is going to take me longer to talk about the Palestinian conflict than it’s taken them to have it. But it can’t be helped - there are too many significant events going on around us that I need to address. These multi-part, nuanced historical series are a lot easier to do when it’s not an election year.

Let’s start with the assassination attempt on Trump. I want to be absolutely clear: I condemn political violence, especially the kind that gets people killed, no matter who is perpetrating it. I was very sad at the many people on my own political side of the aisle I saw celebrating the incident, making jokes about it, or expressing regret it hadn’t worked. Several people were hurt, and a man was killed (not counting the shooter). There are still a lot of questions about the whole event. However, I was also disappointed by the sheer number of conspiracy theories that immediately sprang up, on both sides. I saw people on the right claiming the shooting was orchestrated by Joe Biden and amounted to a hit on Donald Trump (if Biden wanted to do that, he could’ve just used the military, since the Supreme Court has given presidents full immunity for such things). I saw people on the left saying it was rigged or was a false flag event orchestrated by Trump himself to get votes. Both those ideas are ridiculous, and dangerous. Meanwhile, a lot of assumptions were also immediately made about the shooter’s political views - to wit, that he was a leftist terrorist who hated the right.

Here’s what we do know. The kid was a registered Republican, and his folks had Trump signs in their yard, while on the other hand he once donated $15 to a Democrat. It’s hard to nail down. Law enforcement has discovered, in his computer records, that he had tracked the travel itineraries of several famous politicians, including Biden and a member of the Royal family. As Trae Crowder (Upper Cumberland native and Tennessee Tech graduate) pointed out, the last time a president was shot in this country (Reagan) it was not politically motivated - John Hinkley, Jr. just wanted to impress the movie star Jodie Foster. It is really seeming more and more like the shooter in this case just wanted to kill a political figure to get famous, and Trump happened to be the one that came closest to his house.

So, there’s that. There’s also Joe Biden dropping out of the race, which at the time I am writing this happened just a few hours ago. Kamala Harris, at this point, looks all but certain to take his place on the ticket- by tonight (Sunday). Four states had already pledged all their Democratic delegates to her. Tennessee was the first state to do so, by the way.

What is this going to mean for the election? Polls at this point have Harris doing slightly better against Trump than Biden was, but not by much. I think the difference is going to be this: the Democratic base was beginning to despair after Biden’s debate performance, and an air of certain defeat was setting in; now that base has been instantly energized and their hope renewed. Biden’s contributions had dried up in the weeks since the debate; within a few hours after he announced he was dropping out, Democrats raised over $30 million, making it possibly the biggest one-day fundraising in Democratic Party history. The base is now going to get out and vote like you would not believe.

It is also going to mean a reframing of the competition. Before, the race was between two men that most of America did not want to have to choose from. They both have their baggage, and they are both the oldest presidential candidates in history. If Trump were to win, by the end of his term he would be older than Biden is now… and he is noticeably slipping, day by day. Many voters were saying they’d rather have ANYBODY but these two… and now they do. Kamala Harris is only 59 years old - she graduated college in 1986 - so those who favored Trump over Biden because of age no longer have that issue to fall back on. TRUMP is the old geezer now. Joe Biden, by ending his candidacy, might have saved democracy… again.

And, of course, there’s also the matter of J.D. Vance. But THAT is going to take a whole column.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.