Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford Photo: AP Photo/Cliff Owen
Biden orders an “independent review” of the incident as the colossal security failure takes center stage.
An attempted assassination of former United States President Donald Trump while he addressed a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania has been blamed on monumental intelligence and security failures by the Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement agencies.
Hosting an open-air rally with thousands of participants in an area where there were unsecured rooftops and trees cannot be explained away absent a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
One person attending the rally was killed instantly by some of the bullets fired. Two other people were critically wounded. Trump was slightly wounded when a bullet grazed his right ear.
In the initial reports, the assassin identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by Secret Service snipers just seconds after he fired into the crowd towards the Republican presidential candidate. The actual motive of Crooks was not immediately clear. However, the capacity of the shooter to survey the area prior to the rally, climb onto the roof and fire a high-powered rifle which wounded four people, one fatally, requires serious investigation.
This incident has shifted focus from the internal turmoil which has rapidly accelerated within the Democratic Party. A significant faction largely in the moderate and conservative wings of the Democratic Party has waged a public campaign to remove Biden from the presidential race.
As of mid-July, 19 Democratic lawmakers had strongly suggested that Biden cannot effectively campaign against Trump leading up to the November elections. Much of this consternation among Democrats stemmed from the disastrous performance of Biden during a Cable News Network (CNN) debate on June 27.
Perhaps even more significantly, a number of wealthy business owners and public figures such as actors George Clooney and Ashley Judd, came out strongly calling for Biden to step aside. Even those Democratic stalwarts such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and South Carolina congressman James Clyburn made statements to the media which indicated clearly that there was a well-organized effort to remove Biden from the top of the ticket.
Pelosi said it must be determined whether Biden’s performance at the CNN debate was an episode or a condition. Clyburn emphasized that if Biden was removed as the presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris should replace him. Political pundits began to discuss polls that showed Harris running a more competitive race against Trump than Biden. Documents began to circulate that provided a rationale for Harris to take the lead in the race to defeat Trump in November.
The New York Times, which serves as a voice for a section of the bourgeoisie in the U.S., published an editorial demanding that Biden be replaced in the campaign. This editorial was followed several days later by an opinion piece from George Clooney saying he wanted to see Biden replaced. Other news outlets continued the pattern such as the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Politico, etc., and began to publish articles decrying the purported cognitive decline of the president.
Forbes magazine, another platform for the ruling class in the U.S., said in a report that:
“Several A-list celebrities have stepped up to criticize the president for staying in the race, including Biden fundraiser George Clooney, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times imploring Biden to ‘save democracy’ and step away from the race. Other Hollywood figures include actor Rob Reiner, author Stephen King and heiress Abigail Disney. Billionaire Mark Pincus—who has reportedly donated more than $1 million to support Biden and the Democrats since December—is the latest well-heeled Biden supporter to urge Biden to step aside, including billionaires Christy Walton, Michael Novogratz and Reed Hastings. Mark Cuban has said Democrats should assess whether another person can step in as the nominee.” ()
The attempted assassination of Trump will undoubtedly create additional political problems for the Biden administration and the campaign for his reelection. As more questions are raised related to the intelligence and security failures, the standing of the Biden White House will be further diminished.
A press conference held by the Secret Service, FBI, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and police chief Jeffrey B. Norman on July 14 on the eve of the beginning of the Republican National Convention (RNC), maintained that no changes in the security protocols would be implemented in light of the incident in Butler. Such utterances will do nothing to quell the assertions that there could very well be a conspiracy to kill former President Trump.
Biden has been trailing Trump in national polls for several months. After the June 27 debate, the gap between Biden and Trump widened with the Republican candidate leading the president by six percentage points. Other polls suggest a much closer race between the two.
Nonetheless, the presidency is determined by which candidate attains the most electoral votes. In the 2016 race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won more popular votes yet lost in the electoral college.
African Americans and the Democratic Party in 2024
African American legislators have been quite reluctant to take a position against Biden in the recent weeks after the debate debacle. Analyzing this phenomenon, the Biden campaign has targeted African American radio and rally audiences.
Two controversial interviews with Black radio hosts, one in Milwaukee with Earl Ingram and in Philadelphia with Andrea Lawful-Sanders resulted in Lawful-Sanders being terminated while the other was forced to answer important questions about the character of the broadcast. It was revealed that the Biden campaign sent questions to be asked of the president in advance. Also, the interviews were edited to remove false statements made by Biden.
During a campaign rally for Biden in Detroit on July 12 at Renaissance High School, what appeared to be an invitation-only gathering was designed to project the notions of overwhelming electoral support for the president among African Americans. The gathering featured leading Democratic officials such as white corporate Mayor Mike Duggan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, who is African American, among others such as actor Octavia Spencer.
Standing behind Biden on the platform were dozens of people wearing Service Employees International Union (SEIU) t-shirts who were chanting slogans such as: “Don’t you quit” and “Four More Years”. All of the speakers at Renaissance High School claimed that the Biden administration had delivered millions of jobs to African Americans and working-class people in general. Spencer falsely stated that Biden’s policies had eliminated child poverty by 50 percent. Although this was said during the first year of the Biden administration, the actual $3.5 trillion social spending bill failed to pass the Senate despite a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress.
Other promises made by the Biden campaign in 2020 such as the passage of a George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and a John Lewis Voting Rights bill were never realized. Law enforcement brutality towards African Americans and Latin Americans has continued over the last four years.
The higher rate of inflation which has been in evidence since 2021 disproportionately impacted African Americans and other oppressed and working people. Higher prices for food, gasoline, utilities, housing, transportation, education and healthcare have resulted in greater insecurity among tens of millions of people. In relation specifically to low-wage workers, the federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2009. It has remained at just $7.25 per hour.
Consequently, the reasons being given by the Biden campaign to earn the electoral support of the African American people are based on unfounded assertions. Many are concerned about the racism of Trump and his threats to impose a neo-fascist regime if reelected. However, the fear related to Trump must be weighed against the realities of life in the U.S. for oppressed impoverished and working people.
African Americans, the Genocide in Palestine and the Struggle Against Imperialist War
At the Detroit rally on July 12, Palestinian solidarity activists held a demonstration outside Renaissance High School. The “uncommitted” movement during the Democratic primaries in the winter and spring had its origins in Michigan.
101,000 Democratic voters cast their ballots as “uncommitted” in Michigan. This campaign spread to many other states before Biden was declared the winner of the primaries.
The insidious approach of the Democratic Party has been designed to pit the African American electorate against those seeking a ceasefire and the end to the genocide in Gaza. Historically progressive African Americans have been forerunners in the anti-war and anti-imperialist struggles during the 20th century.
Moreover, the interventionist nature of U.S. imperialism has never benefited African Americans and other oppressed and working people. The trillions of dollars which have been wasted over the last three decades or more in hegemonic military campaigns waged against the oppressed peoples of Asia, Latin America and Africa have contributed immensely to the worsening social conditions among the oppressed and workers in the western imperialist states.
Even more importantly, African Americans and other oppressed and working people in the U.S. are obligated to be in solidarity with those fighting imperialism in the Global South. Objectively the world capitalist system remains the adversary of the overwhelming majority of people throughout the world.
Abayomi Azikiwe is the Editor of Pan-African News Wire.
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