David Samuels
Tablet, July 15, 2024
“By joining his chi to Trump’s, Musk has created a double helix out of the two most powerful human memes on Earth.”
The photograph of a bloodied former President Trump defiantly pumping his fist in the air beneath the American flag as his Secret Service minders struggle to protect him was immediately among the most indelible political images of the past half-century. As memorable as a hunched Richard Nixon signaling V for victory, or JFK standing tall in West Berlin, these are the kinds of images that are impossible for political operatives to gainsay or counterfeit, because they capture character in action. Once seen, these images are impossible to unsee. This was one of them.
In Trump’s case, the photograph was of a man who took a bullet in front of his supporters and lived, just like he said he would. He got up with blood on his face, in front of 10,000 or more people, and showed both the presence of mind and the unkillable ego strength to stage the political photograph of the century with himself as the star. Worship him or hate his guts, it was the most Trumpian act imaginable.
Hordes of commentators were quick to analyze the significance of the moment in terms of what did not happen. Imagine if the shooter hadn’t missed! Had Trump not survived the assassination attempt, they all argued, the country would obviously have been plunged into one form or another of civil war, a result of the inevitable violent response from the right. Luckily, extremists on both sides would have to go at it some other time. …
This interpretation is exactly wrong. In fact, the meaningful, history-changing event is the one that happened. If Trump had been killed, having failed to anoint a successor, the people who have been putting Jan. 6 protesters in prison by the hundreds for the past three years would have rolled right over what was left of Trump’s MAGA movement, and Joe Biden—or whoever they chose to run at the top of the Democratic ticket—would have won the election by a minimum of 20 million votes.
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