Trump survives two assassination attempts as activism devours journalism

Two months ago, former US President Donald Trump suffered an assassination attempt during a public event in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump suffers an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania
The attack against Trump, 'apparent' journalism and Butler's heroes

Trump was slightly injured in the attack, which cost the life of a man attending the rally. As I noted at the time, part of mainstream journalism took the opportunity to throw its prestige overboard by describing as "apparent" what was clearly an attempt to assassinate Trump, even more than an hour after the shooting, in a very different way from how they have dealt with other similar crimes.

This Sunday Shots were fired at a golf club owned by Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, a club where the former president was at the time. A man fled after abandoning an AK-47 assault rifle at the scene, but was eventually arrested. Trump issued a statement saying: "There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!"

Last night, the FBI confirmed that it is investigating this incident as "what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump." The FBI posted that message on Twitter at 01:00 CET. By then, some journalists were not content with giving the pitiful spectacle they gave two months ago. Some decided to go a bit further and deny the assassination attempt almost three hours before the FBI confirmed that it was investigating. A message that many shared on Twitter without bothering to verify it.

As you know, I have disagreements with Donald Trump on several issues, as I have been pointing out on this blog in recent months. But there is one thing that is very clear to me: when we talk about an attempted murder, or two, the ideas of the victim are left aside. Trying to assassinate a politician in a democratic country seems to me to be something that deserves total rejection, whatever the ideas of that politician are. When we talk about a crime, what must be done is to report it with rigor and seriousness, without letting your point of view on the opinions of the victim cloud your good judgment when dealing with that crime.

Unfortunately, in the world of information there are people who are less and less journalists and more and more activists, people who put their ideology and opinions above rigor and seriousness when reporting. In doing so, they throw their credibility overboard, making it clear that they are not reliable sources when looking for information.

The result is what I summarize in the title of this entry: Trump has already survived two assassination attempts in less than three months (something that should draw attention, by the way, to the degree of radicalization that his rivals' speeches against him are reaching). At the same time, certain journalism has ended up devoured by blatant political activism. A fact that loses us all, because journalism has the mission of supervising political power and to do so it needs rigor. Discredited journalism is harmful to a democracy. Unfortunately, it seems that those least concerned about this are, precisely, some journalists.

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Photo: Evan Vucci.