AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
This morning on Truth Social, former President Trump said, quote, "in this moment, it's more important than ever that we stand united and show our true character as Americans." But immediately after that moment yesterday, Americans did not unite. Partisan finger porting - finger pointing quickly began. Here to talk us through the significance of this for the country and the election is NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Good morning, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So I want to start by asking, what are your thoughts about this moment?
MONTANARO: Well, I mean, you know, it's certainly a dangerous moment in our political history. You know, this kind of moment was one that a lot of us were concerned was a thing that could happen, having seen the polarization, you know, kind of ramp up in recent years. We've seen actual political violence toward people in both parties before this. Polling has shown sizable numbers of people have been concerned about violence in this election and afterward.
And I couldn't help but think about 1968 and Robert F. Kennedy being assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. being assassinated, and here we are. You know, how this resolves itself, I mean, is worrisome because we've had things ramp up to this point, and we don't have any indication that things are going to become less heated. I mean, just look at some of those responses you were mentioning that we saw very quickly after the shooting last night.
RASCOE: Well, talk to us more about those responses and how things seem to be playing out right now.
MONTANARO: Yeah, I mean, on the right, it was really one of defiance and somewhat anger toward Democrats and the left. You know, some on the right pointed at the Secret Service and the Biden administration for not giving enough resources to protect Trump. Secret Service spokesman this morning in a posting called it untrue, an untrue assertion that a member of the former president's team requested additional security resources and that those were rebuffed - said that's absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources.
Allies of Trump, including his campaign, were incensed with early cautious media coverage and pointed fingers at President Biden. For his part, Biden condemned the shooting and said that political violence has no place in America, but that wasn't enough for Trump allies. You know, you mentioned J.D. Vance's comments in the last segment, blaming Biden for calling Trump a fascist, saying that that's directly to blame.
Ben Carson, who served as Trump's housing secretary and also someone Trump was thinking - has been thinking about for potentially a VP, put it this way. They tried to bankrupt him. They tried to slander him. They tried to imprison him. Now they've tried to kill him. I think we're going to hear a lot of that kind of thing starting tomorrow at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
RASCOE: I mean, so how do you expect these events and these emotions to factor into the RNC? What do you think that will be like?
MONTANARO: Yeah. Well, first, you know, Trump says he's fine and that he's still going. He thanks supporters and law enforcement, and he's going to be greeted really as a hero from his already devoted fan base? Certainly, this amps up, you know, what the focus was going to be. Trump's - has always had a defiant message and accused a vague they as coming after him. And he's vowed retribution for his base and that they aren't really coming after him but his base of voters. And this plays squarely into that message and certainly undermines Biden's message that Trump is a threat to democracy.
RASCOE: I mean, it's impossible to really know this, but do you think this will make a difference in the election?
MONTANARO: We haven't seen a lot move the needle. Ayesha - you know, Trump's felony conviction, Biden's poor debate performance. But if this doesn't move the needle, you know, nothing will. I mean, there's certainly going to be an outpouring of support for Trump. It's going to galvanize his supporters. And candidates usually get a bump out of a convention anyway, and if he was trying to target looking at those - win over those voters who he needs to kind of come on his side who might have been on the fence, he's certainly going to use this to try and do that.
RASCOE: That's NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Thanks so much, Domenico.
MONTANARO: You're welcome.
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