Following the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, nearly every prominent figure in U.S. politics has issued a statement on the horrific incident. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) released an urgent video message addressing the intense political polarization in American culture and calling on Americans not to jump to conclusions about the nature of the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Kennedy recorded the message while preparing to travel to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “I’m off to Milwaukee, but before I leave Louisiana, I wanted to say something,” He began, “Why? That’s what most Americans are asking themselves today. Why did President Trump almost lose his life?” he further asked.
The Louisiana Republican further illustrated how words cannot describe how awful the attempt on Trump’s life was. He continued, “First, there aren’t words in English. It seems to me to describe how horrible the attempt on President Trump’s life was. I know it could have been work, but it was really, really bad. And inevitably, Americans today, as I said, are asking themselves, why?”
Kennedy described a sense of pessimism plaguing the American public stemming from numerous factors. “Look, America hasn’t been happy for a while, and this crosses all political spectrums. It costs more to live in our country today. Many people on both sides of the political spectrum are upset about the open border. Open border. Crime is better, but it’s still bad,” he said, discussing domestic issues.
The senator also touched on geopolitical tensions flaring with foreign adversaries. “People are scared they see the rise of China and the rise of Iran and the rise of Russia, and they instinctively know that their domination creates a world that’s not safe for democracy or America, and this has led to disagreement in our politics, and disagreement is inevitable,” he added.
“It’s been especially sharp because I think it reflects two things. It reflects the unhappiness that I talked about, but it also reflects the fact that all Americans, they care deeply about their families, and they care deeply about their country,” Kennedy went on, outlining that Americans want to feel a sense of security surrounding their families and broader nation.
Ultimately, he pointed out that there are still many unknown variables as to why the shooter was specifically motivated to carry out the assassination attempt over the weekend. “I don’t have an answer for why, but what I will respectfully suggest is that we we wait and try to figure out why, together, don’t make assumptions, don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve already heard some people saying, well, the shooter was left winger, or the shooter was a right winger, and it was all political. We just don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t a left maybe he wasn’t left-wing or right-wing. He was just a broken wing. Maybe he was a nut. Maybe he was mentally ill,” he said.
Kennedy concluded, “I’ve also seen people pointing figure figures that at our government officials about how could they have allowed this to happen? Well, the American people deserve answers to that, but let’s wait and get the facts. So I just wanted to say that it was, it was in my head and my heart to the people of America and the people in Louisiana. We’ll figure this out together in the meantime, let’s all, let’s all respect each other’s humanity.”
Watch Kennedy’s remarks below:
Featured image credit: By C-SPAN – http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/311354-7, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130734292
"*" indicates required fields