'Political violence symptomatic of deeper polarisation, extremism within American political sphere'

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00:00Welcome. An assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in July was an extraordinary

00:08moment in the American election campaign. Now a second apparent attempt on his life

00:14just nine weeks later is truly unprecedented. The FBI says a man is in custody this Monday

00:21after an AK-7 style assault rifle was recovered at Trump's golf course in Florida. Trump himself

00:29was not injured and media reports have now named the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Ruth.

00:36With the details, here's Matthew Mary Karushet.

00:41Just hours after suspected second assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump,

00:47law enforcement officials arrested a suspect. U.S. media report that Ryan Ruth was captured

00:53after Secret Service agents opened fire on a gunman carrying an AK-47 style rifle near

01:00the boundary of Trump's Florida golf course. Police have been searching the properties

01:05of Ruth, a former resident of North Carolina who has been living as a self-employed affordable

01:10housing builder in Hawaii since 2018. A staunch political activist, Ruth has voiced opinions

01:17both supportive of and critical of Trump. One cause dear to his heart, however, has

01:23been the war in Ukraine as he recently spent months in the country supporting the resistance

01:28against the Russian invasion. Here he is talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin in

01:342022.

01:35Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended. So we need everybody from around the globe

01:40to stop what they're doing and come here now and support the Ukrainians to end this war.

01:46Ruth is suspected of being the person who hid in shrubbery with a rifle, scope and camera

01:51near the area where Trump was golfing. Secret Service agents were clearing holes ahead of

01:56Trump when they spotted a rifle barrel. The agents opened fire, but the person fled in

02:01a black car before being apprehended on the highway. The FBI has said the incident appears

02:07to be an assassination attempt. Nonetheless, Trump posted statements in seemingly good

02:13spirits that evening, praising law enforcement for their work and saying he would never surrender

02:18to people trying to stop him and his supporters.

02:23Reaction of course has been pouring in to the apparent assassination attempt, including

02:28for President Joe Biden and Trump's rival for the White House, Kamala Harris.

02:35Sunday's apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump has prompted a wave of condemnation.

02:42Among those to denounce the incident was his rival, Kamala Harris.

02:45I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his

02:50property in Florida, and I'm glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.

02:56A sentiment echoed by her running mate, Tim Walz, who said, quote, violence has no place

03:01in our country. It is not who we are as a country.

03:06In a statement on social media, Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, said he was glad the Republican

03:11presidential candidate was safe, adding that he was in quote, good spirits.

03:17Sunday's incident appears, according to the FBI, to be the second assassination attempt

03:22against the former US president this year.

03:25At a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania back in July, Trump was grazed in the ear in a shooting

03:30that killed a member of the crowd and critically injured two.

03:34In the wake of Sunday's apparent assassination attempt, the former president's son, Eric

03:38Trump, expressed his fears of another attack, saying, quote, my father is running out of

03:43lives here. How many more rifles are going to come within assassination distance of my

03:47father?

03:50US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, praised the Secret Service for their quote,

03:55quick response to ensure former President Trump's safety.

03:59It comes after the US Secret Service director resigned following the Butler shooting amid

04:04scrutiny of security lapses surrounding the attack.

04:08So we got to do more.

04:09Well, I'm pleased to welcome to the programme now, Christopher Featherstone. He's a lecturer

04:14in international relations at the University of York. Hello to you, sir. Thanks for joining

04:19us today.

04:20Thank you very much.

04:22Look, the United States is 50 days out from the election. What kind of impact do you think

04:27this is going to have on Trump's campaign and on Trump himself in these final weeks?

04:35Well, I think we've seen recently that this has actually had a rather bullish effect on

04:40Donald Trump. It is actually energising. We can see from his messaging, he has responded

04:46quite well. He has responded positively. So it's not necessarily had a massive impact

04:51on him individually. But we can also see that this is potentially going to have an impact

04:55on his supporters and how willing they are to come out and go to his rallies. Donald

05:02Trump gets a lot of energy in his campaigns from his political rallies. And if they are

05:07becoming more dangerous or more difficult to persuade yourself to attend, then we can

05:12maybe see that having a downturn. So we can see it potentially having a positive impact

05:17on his vote turnout, but it could also have an impact on the rallies and the attendance

05:20at these rallies.

05:21Well, you talk about this being, you know, something potentially energising for Donald

05:26Trump. We remember after that first assassination attempt in July, Donald Trump raised his fist

05:33into the air after he was shot. And there were plenty of people at the time who thought

05:36his sort of instinctive response was a vote winner. But look, actually, that assassination

05:43attempt got rather lost in the fast paced American election cycle. And so I wonder now

05:49whether you think what happened yesterday will benefit Trump given how close the polls

05:56clearly are?

05:57Well, I think, yes, this is this is a campaign that it has been repeatedly said it is on

06:03a knife edge. This campaign is incredibly close. So any bump in the polls for Donald

06:08Trump will be a positive impact for him. Kamala Harris had arguably a better performance in

06:15the debate. And actually, Donald Trump was potentially losing some of the momentum in

06:19his campaign. So it's potential that that would maybe, that bump might address that

06:24potential loss of momentum. I think we should also note just how remarkable this is, though,

06:29how dangerous this looks in the American political sphere. We have two attempted assassinations

06:37of a candidate of a former president within a matter of months in one campaign. This is

06:43in this is unprecedented in the modern era. So, you know, we shouldn't also get away from

06:48just the impact of this campaign of this assassination attempt.

06:52Well, indeed, it is unprecedented. I wonder what you think it tells us about American

06:57political discourse today about the country's relationship with political violence?

07:01Well, I think disturbingly, this is a this is becoming more frequent, right? The idea

07:07of political violence in the political sphere in America is becoming more normalised. It

07:12is becoming something that we are more used to seeing when we see attempted assassinations.

07:17We can also think back to the political violence of January 6th. Right. So this is not necessarily

07:23something that is wholly unprecedented, but it is increasing and we can maybe see this

07:27as a symptom of an increase in political violence and a symptom of an increase in the violence

07:33of some of the rhetoric around election campaigning in America. Donald Trump's response has been,

07:39you know, very aggressive again, as it was with his last assassination, his response

07:44to his last assassination attempt. So we can see that potentially this is not something

07:48that is going to be going away. But this increase in political violence is symptomatic of a

07:53deeper polarisation and extremism within the American political sphere.

07:58We talked a bit about Trump himself and about the Trump campaign. Your thoughts on Kamala

08:02Harris at this moment in the election cycle? She said on X that violence has no place in

08:08America in the wake of this apparent assassination attempt. Do you think she will have to say

08:14more in the days ahead?

08:16I would be very, very surprised if she doesn't need to address this further. In the last

08:22case, there were significant questions around the security provision to Donald Trump during

08:28his campaigning, during his time on the road. So it is it would be incredibly unlikely if

08:34this does not become another talking point in the campaign. Last time, the head of the

08:39Secret Service had to resign. And this caused a seismic impact on American politics. So

08:45I would be shocked if we don't see further comment on the assassination attempt. I would

08:51say that this maybe needs to be addressed in a in a response to the rhetoric surrounding

08:57it. Kamala Harris has understandably not gone out there too far. She doesn't want to get

09:02too involved yet until we have more of the facts available. That's completely understandable.

09:07But I think it will come in the next few hours and arguably days as well. More of a

09:13discussion point around the violence of the rhetoric, the conversations that Americans

09:18are having around the politics going on at the moment. What is the what is the response

09:23to the political rhetoric and the potential of violence in American politics?

09:28Just a final question. You point out that that in July, the head of the Secret Service

09:33had to resign in the wake of that assassination attempt on Trump. Do you think heads will

09:38roll again now?

09:41I think it's potentially heads will roll. But I think actually maybe this needs to go

09:45further than this. This question around who's in charge, who's who's taking these decisions

09:50and actually maybe looking towards what is the what is the symptoms that are impacting

09:56this political violence, but also potentially looking more broadly. I would be surprised

10:02if we don't see the Secret Service looking at trying to portray this as a success, right,

10:08that they have prevented an attempt on Donald Trump. So it's potential that this would be

10:13used as a as a way of showing that what they are trying to do has worked. But I would also

10:19be very surprised if we don't have further conversations around how is this allowed to

10:24happen again within a matter of nine weeks. So I would be very shocked if this isn't a

10:31topic for further conversation. I don't know if further heads will roll there.

10:35Christopher Featherstone talking to us live there. Thank you very much indeed.

10:39Thank you very much.

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