I happened to be on an American Airlines flight on Saturday at the time that an assassination attempt against former President Trump occurred. The reaction onboard was not unexpected, but still quite interesting to witness.
Trump Assassination Attempt – How Passengers On My American Airlines Flight Reacted
We were flying from Nashville, Tennessee (BNA) to Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT) when the assassination attempt against President Trump in Butler, PA occurred (I’ll share more about the trip tomorrow). It happened just as we were taking off and I quickly connected to in-flight wi-fi and sat spellbound as the news slowly filtered in.
But it seemed like I was the only one who connected to the internet…
When we landed in Charlotte 50 minutes later, folks turned their phones on and all of a sudden everyone was talking about Trump being shot. As you can imagine on a flight between Tennessee and North Carolina, most appeared to be Trump supporters and there was immediate outrage and fear. The couple behind us stopped to pray for Trump and the couple in front of us shook their heads in disbelief.
One lady across from us and one row back was crying. Several people said, “I can’t believe it. Is this really happening?”
Yes, it really happened.
Political violence in America is not new. I won’t work through the long laundry list of assassination and assassination attempts in US history, but it goes back to the Andrew Jackson administration and has been an unfortunate staple of American life for 200 years.
There’s really nothing new under the sun. The congeniality and reconciliation of the last two days has been refreshing, but will the finger-pointing and blame game now take over? Are we on the path to another civil war, with two nations, two justice systems, and two very different trajectories?
Optimistically, and perhaps naively, I hope not. While there are such differences that divide us, we see even in the bipartisan outpouring of sympathy for Trump over the weekend that unity is possible.
CONCLUSION
It was interesting to be onboard an American Airlines flight in the South during the assassination attempt against Trump. The anger and fear over it will hopefully drive conversations toward reconciliation instead of further division. But I’m probably hopelessly naive…
Ironically, I was also on an American Airlines flight on January 6, 2021 when the US Capitol was penetrated by protestors aiming to stop the certification of the last election. There is a link between those events. There is a link between political violence and the rhetoric of fear and resentment.
As President Reagan said in his first speech after he was shot outside the Washington Hilton in 1981:
I’d like to say a few words directly to all of you and to those who are watching and listening tonight, because this is the only way I know to express to all of you on behalf of Nancy and myself our appreciation for your messages and flowers and, most of all, your prayers, not only for me but for those others who fell beside me.
The warmth of your words, the expression of friendship and, yes, love, meant more to us than you can ever know. You have given us a memory that we’ll treasure forever. And you’ve provided an answer to those few voices that were raised saying that what happened was evidence that ours is a sick society.
Let us choose our words carefully and remember that a house divided cannot stand.