[Wang Son-taek] Dreaming of new Trump after assassination attempt

On the evening of July 13 in Butler, a small town in western Pennsylvania, a shocking incident erupted. Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man known to be from a town near the scene, tried to kill former US President Donald Trump with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle but failed. The former president suffered a penetrating right ear injury but survived without danger to his life. The gunman was killed at the scene by a special security team. Amid various kinds of bustling, the Republican Party officially selected him as the presidential candidate at a national convention in Milwaukee. And he nominated JD Vance, an Ohio senator, as the vice-presidential candidate.

There are many points to watch after the shooting, and the most curious thing is whether there will be a change in the philosophy of life of Trump, who saved his life by millimeter differences. Trump prepared the topic of his acceptance speech as a criticism of the Biden administration. Still, after the attack, he ordered his aides to change it to the unity of America. It is highly welcome if he is sincere about it because his approach is good for him, the US and the world.

If Trump shows a new side of himself, I hope he is not lying anymore. He has lied too much. The Washington Post wrote in January 2021 that he lied 30,573 times during his four-year presidency. He said 493 times that his economic policies had achieved the best performance in US history. However, the best times in the US economy were during the Eisenhower era in the 1950s, the Lyndon Johnson era in the 1960s and the Clinton era in the 1990s. He claimed 296 times that he had taken the largest tax cuts. However, the amount of tax cuts during the Trump presidency was 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product, far short of 2.9 percent during the Ronald Reagan presidency. The amount of tax cuts under Trump was the eighth in 100 years. For some people, lying may be an attractive way to show one's greatness, but it is a cancer in maintaining a healthy society as it destroys the trust between people and results in people denying the personality of others.

It is hoped that Trump will practice ‘political correctness,’ including refraining from making racist remarks. Political correctness is a minimum guideline of action to consider social minorities by refraining from making remarks that unnecessarily attack other people's weaknesses. It is also a prerequisite for a healthy society by increasing social inclusion and easing conflicts. There are immigrants from neighboring countries who illegally enter the US, and some of them commit crimes, but defining all of them as criminals or rapists is violent and hateful. In the US, an advanced civilized country responsible for managing international order, it is a surreal situation to have a national leader who openly raises racial discrimination remarks in violation of minority protection guidelines, just like a lawless gang boss. I hope the new Trump will not make racist remarks after the miraculous situation in Butler.

The new Trump should refrain from inciting and promoting violence. If the US incites violence, the world will be trapped in chaos. On Jan. 6, 2021, a large group of mobs stormed the US Congress and caused a riot. Before the incident, Trump said in a speech to his supporters that he had won the presidential election two months ago and they would go to the Capitol and take back his country. Supporters marched to the Capitol and used violence, killing four people in the process. Agitation of violence leads to the terrifying consequence of calling another violence and arbitrarily claiming the lives of innocent people without legal procedures and legitimate reasons. I hope that he will stop inciting violence in the future, as he almost lost his life to violence.

Since the presidents of the US should manage global security and trade order, they substantially impact most countries and many world residents. If Trump wins the upcoming presidential election, I hope he will do many things to help bring peace and prosperity to the world. He has emphasized that he will make America great again and might ignore the other countries' issues. However, since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the international order has been reorganized into a unipolar order led by the US. The US is doing a job of hegemon, while other countries believe the US management system is working. If the US neglects the task of managing order, countries with imperialist policies will harass the weaker countries. The barbaric era, in which great powers arbitrarily usurp the weaker countries, will also come again. It would be nice to believe that even if Trump is elected, the world will not return to the era of barbarism.

I would like to see him participate in responding to the global climate crisis. Abnormal climate phenomena caused by climate change are occurring all over the world. Most of the weaker countries affected cannot react to the situation. Only when great powers with the leadership of the US step up together and effectively develop a joint response at the global level will global society be able to avoid the possible destruction of humankind.

After miraculously saving his life from a gunman's rifle attack, former President Trump is showing some signs that he has changed. Talking about the unity of the US is one of the outstanding signals of the change. Suppose such a shift in perception leads to all policy areas and global people meeting a new Trump. In that case, the shooting will be recognized as a blessing in disguise not only for Americans but also for all humans on earth, and he will be praised as a savior of humanity instead of swearing as a global villain.

By Wang Son-taek

Wang Son-taek is an adjunct professor at Sogang University. He is a former diplomatic correspondent at YTN and a former research associate at Yeosijae. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.