The Assassination That Never Was

In 2020, in my novel, Blue Dawn, I predicted the assassination of President Trump during a hotly contested election cycle. This weekend, we almost experienced it in real life. I was thankful that things had not unfolded as they had in the novels, but for a few minutes, fiction and reality were locked in a dangerous and deadly embrace.

We know nothing of this waif that tried to kill the former president. Ultimately, he is insignificant, just like assassins before him. Regardless, conspiracy theories are being spun up by the hour as the Department of Homeland Security performs a self-review. Cries of cover-up abound. Congress does what it does best, threatening hearings and investigations. The only thing we haven’t heard is the ever-familiar line about the assassin, “He was on our radar.”  

Being a political thriller author, I like twisting things to see them in a new light. I wanted to look at these events from a different perspective. In doing so, I ask you to consider this:

What would have happened if a shooter had targeted President Biden instead?

We would hope that the response to such a terrible event would be equal to that of what we’ve experienced in the last few days. The reality is, it wouldn’t be. The demonization of President Trump would have demanded a much more horrible response.  The reaction would have been very different, and far more sinister. 

The specter of January 6^th and the lies tied to the so-called insurrection remain seething in the backs of feeble liberal minds. If President Biden were the target of an assassination attempt, rather than Trump, January 6^th would have surged to the forefront. There would be no discussion of Secret Service failures. Instead, there would be cries that this was part of a plan, by Trump and his followers, to overthrow the government. Action would need to be taken!  

The left and their allies in the mainstream media have been painting the former president as the next Hitler for years. President Biden, in his infamous Dark Brandon speech, claimed he and his supporters were a threat to democracy.  Far right extremism has been a focus for the Department of Justice for several years now.  The shooting of President Biden would be a watershed moment, a tripwire for a crackdown of 1930’s proportions. 

In a matter of hours, there would be calls for Trump’s arrest. The FBI would be scrambled to round up every “radical” right-leaning organization in the country. The left would have used such an attack as the impetus to crush conservatism in the United States for decades to come, if not forever. It wouldn’t be seen as overreaction by the extremists in the Democratic Party. To them, it would serve as a rallying cry to go after the threat that all conservatives present.

Anyone, even members of Congress, who dared to speak out against such a crackdown, would be labeled as coconspirators. News channels that dared to question the narrative that this was anything other than an attempt to overthrow the government would find themselves silenced.

There would be no discussion about gun control, orders would go out to halt sales and to start gathering weapons. The Supreme Court would be drawn into these draconian measures, only to find Congress impeaching them.  The Constitution would be torn to shreds in a matter of hours if not days.

The lawfare that the left enjoyed so much for the last year would be turned on half of the country. Much like the imprisonment of people after January 6^th, thousands (if not more) conservatives would find themselves tossed in jail for an indefinite period. It would be done in the name of preserving democracy, while destroying the very thing they sought to save. Even if the assassin were found to not be conservative, it wouldn’t matter. The first victim of mindless outrage is the truth. 

Retribution would be the order of the day. In the minds of the left, it would be fully justified. A commission would be formed to look into the events, but it would be modeled after the January Sixth Commission. They would start with a verdict (guilty) and be a body to gather only the evidence to support their predetermined findings.  Stalin and Mao would be proud of such proceedings.

I daresay that an assassination attempt on Biden, rather than Trump, would dramatically alter the United States in ways that are frightening to contemplate.  While we all should pray for the recovery of President Trump and the other victims, and mourn the dead; let us also pray that no one attempts the same act on President Biden (or whomever the Democrats finally have as their candidate.)  We cannot provide the left with a fuse on a bomb that will destroy both us and the nation. If we are fortunate, calmer heads will prevail.