Finding Common Ground

“It was sad that it has come down to this, to somebody possibly losing their life over it.”

Following an attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump on Saturday, Saratoga mayor Chuck Davis and other local elected officials echoed comments on the national level about the need to “turn the rhetoric down.”

Mayor Davis said while he hopes the country can steer away from violent political rhetoric, he’s not sure it’s possible.

“There’s so much hatred in the world today, in the United States especially,” said Mayor Davis. “I don’t think they’ll get [the rhetoric] toned down because now the Republican Party has something to push back with. That’s not the rhetoric that caused this, there’s just too much hatred in the United States today.”

As the Department of Homeland Security has opened up an investigation into the attempted assassination of Trump, it seems difficult to determine if the shooting was politically motivated. According to reporting from multiple US media outlets, the shooter—20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks—had registered as a Republican in 2021. He had also made a $15 donation to the Progressive Turnout Project that same year, according to reporting from USA Today.

Sue Jones, chairwoman of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners, had comments similar to Mayor Davis. According to Jones, she’s noticed a shift over the past several years in the respective political parties and cited that as a reason for the rise in rhetoric. She said she’s noticed it specifically in her role as a county commissioner, as people have appeared to misunderstand what authority a county commissioner has as opposed to what is defined in state statute.

Jones also cited the continued use of social media as a reason for the increased violent rhetoric.

“When we’re all just faces behind a keyboard, we don’t look at each other as human,” said Jones. “The more connected we get, the more disconnected we become. We don’t think about the person on the other side of the screen.”

House District 47 Representative Robert “Bob” Davis called for the end to personal attacks on candidates, urging for a focus on debating the issues.

“The assassination on President Trump’s life was another sad day in the history of the United States. It was a tragic day with the death and injury of Americans. We need to stop the mudslinging and the personal attacks on the candidates [and] debate the issues, even if we don’t agree. I believe we need to get back to the basic issues and remember we’re all Americans,” said Representative Davis. “Look to the Bible and the Constitution and what they stand for. We need to look at how the candidates stand on current problems that affect us as Americans. This will give us solutions to today’s problems.”

According to Mayor Davis, there’s too much focus on what party someone belongs to or who they voted for in the election.

“I just wish more people could come together and be friends. [Just] because somebody votes differently than you or belongs to an affiliated party, why do you have to be hateful to that person? I thought the country was headed in the right direction at one time,” said Mayor Davis. “It seems like we’ve dropped back 40 years. Back to when I first voted.”

According to an August 2023 report by Reuters, there is evidence to suggest “the biggest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s.” The report also included a Reuters/Ipsos poll of nearly 4,500 registered voters in May 2023 with approximately 20% of both Republican and Democratic respondents saying violence was acceptable if it helped achieve their idea of a better society. About 65% of those polled around the same time, however, expressed concern about violence committed against people in their community due to political beliefs.

Meanwhile, a 2023 report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace showed American voters have more similarities than differences when it comes to policy preferences.

“There is some overlap even on hot-button issues, such as abortion and guns, and more overlap on how to teach American history,” read the report. “... most partisans hold major misbeliefs about the other party’s preferences that lead them to think there is far less shared policy belief. This perception gap is highest among progressive activists, followed closely by extreme conservatives.”

That overlap might even be able to be found in Carbon County, where registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats 5-to-1, according to voter registration information on the Secretary of State’s website.

“For some reason, we can agree to disagree but walk out of a coffee shop or a town meeting and we’re still friends. I think so many people take it personally and you can’t do that. You have your beliefs and I have my beliefs,” said Mayor Davis. “We just need to find common ground and come together. If we don’t do that, we’re going to be just like every great nation: we’re going to fall [from] within.”