Focus at Four: SHSU political expert speaks on unity, rhetoric after assassination attempt on former President Trump

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – In the days following an attempt on a prominent political figure’s life, a political science professor from Huntsville offers insight as we inch closer and closer to election day.

Last Saturday, former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania when a young shooter opened fire in a crowd. The former president quickly announced that he was doing well shortly after being rushed away by security.

Come Monday, the former president announced his running mate and the official nomination of the Republican party at the National Convention in Milwaukee.

Political science professor Mike Yawn from Sam Houston State University (SHSU) told First News at Four on Monday that assassination attempts in the past have impacted a candidate or president’s popularity.

“I think that’s going to be the case with Donald Trump, and certainly the circumstances surrounding that assassination made him look strong. It appeals to his base, but I think it will also appeal to some of the undecideds out there. It was an effective media moment,” Professor Yawn said.

The attempt, Professor Yawn mentioned, made the former president look strong, and current President Joe Biden look less so, considering the current discussion of his age and ability.

“Some of the things that would have sunk previous presidential candidates have not sunk Donald Trump. But I think what he could do to continue this momentum is do what he did in the first presidential debate: He looked relatively calm, he looked relatively restrained, he did not animate some of the fear that some of the independents may have of him,” explained Professor Yawn.

In response to the attempt on his rival’s life, President Biden discouraged dangerous rhetoric, to which Professor Yawn said candidates coming together would ultimately help the aggression.

“We are in an age of violence, we are in an age of mass protests, and I think it behooves both parties and both major candidates, and the third-party candidates -Robert Kennedy and Jill Stein – to really say, ‘enough is enough. Let’s battle out ideas and not bullets and not fists and not riots,’” Professor Yawn added.

Professor Yawn’s full interview with First News at Four is attached to this article.