America faces serious questions after second Trump assassination attempt

“And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:3)” Jesus did not respond well to those who could read the weather but were oblivious to the obvious portents that surrounded them. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. (Proverbs 27:12)” We, if we are wise, will recognize the omens of the age, interpret them thoughtfully, and act accordingly. 

After two assassination attempts against the former president, it’s time for us to do exactly that. It’s time to discern the signs. Unfortunately, much of America is unwilling to do so. Far too many of us woke up on Monday and went about our day, insensitive to the terrifying reality that, for the second time in two months, Donald Trump was nearly killed. 

No one in America is more polarizing than the man who now seeks to claim the White House for a second, nonconsecutive term. But regardless of your personal feelings about Trump, you owe it to your nation to at least stop and consider what the repeated attempts against his life mean for America.

Reading the New York Times Editor’s column this morning, it became clear that many Americans, with a surprising lack of regard for the target of yesterday’s would-be assassination, were willing to pin the crime on the “plethora of guns, including assault rifles, that keep the gun death rates in the U.S. so far above other developed countries that have reasonable gun safety.”

“After all these years of the Gun Owners Party promoting largely indiscriminate access to rapid-fire guns, how safe is it really for political leaders to campaign in America?” asked one reader. “After this second attempt against Donald Trump, and the recent Georgia school shooting, will the Republican Party even now be willing to discuss safety measures to protect the public from the types of military-style weapons used in these crimes?” another added.

But that’s not what I mean by discerning the signs. As I recall, guns in America preexisted the presidency and, until July 13, 2024, had not been used against a sitting or former commander-in-chief since March 30, 1981 (thank God). That does not mean we don’t have a very serious gun violence problem in America. But when analyzing why the same presidential candidate has been targeted twice, once on his private property, over just one summer, we must push deeper than that. We must not stop at the guns themselves but probe the motives of the men who carried the guns.

A dark and lonely night has set over America. We push ourselves (and others) into isolated silos of faceless, dehumanizing “politics,” where we assume the worst about others and begin to act in irrational ways. The barbarians are no longer at the gate. They are here, amongst us. We have become the barbarians. We are tearing this country apart, one vitriolic, self-righteous, hate-filled lie at a time.

And what’s worse: we justify our endless, astringent bickering and discord as “democracy.” Well, if this is what “democracy” looks like, I’m afraid it may be gasping for breath.

Granted, the Founders did not intend for us to agree about very much of anything. Nevertheless, Constitutional Republicanism cannot survive — and, arguably, has no need to survive — if we are at open war with each other. The United States has always been somewhat of a misnomer; at this point, though, we must question if there’s any truth left to the name at all.

I hope so. I pray so. But the prudent will discern the signs and brace themselves for the evil to come.

Prior to the Civil War, many of the nation’s most incompetent leaders were marked by an utter refusal to confront the issue at the heart of the nation’s rising tensions: slavery. They refused to look it in the eye. They made concessions to appease the slaveowners. Anything but confront the uncomfortable reality that slavery did not belong in America. Period.

While it is unlikely that the Civil War could have been prevented, pre-war America persisted in a naive delusion that, for as long as they ignored the elephant in the room, kicked the can down the road, and camouflaged the problem, the country would somehow survive. “Most happy will it be for the country when the public mind shall be diverted from this question [the slavery question] to others of more pressing and practical importance,” President James Buchanan foolishly declared.

Buchanan was wrong, of course. America couldn’t move on to issues of “more pressing and practical importance.” Not really. Not for as long as we permitted a flagrant contradiction to the nation’s founding creed that all men are created equal. Buchanan and men like him lived in a fantasy of their own moral cowardice: Slavery had to go.

Often, in moments like these, you’ll hear someone say, “It’s time to just move on.” That won’t work. We can’t just move on. Not until we’ve fixed the problem. Not until we can rest knowing that whatever evil plagues our nation’s soul is dead and gone, never to return. America couldn’t just “move on” from slavery; we had to eradicate it. Forever. “Moving on” while a cancer still rots one’s bones is more than just ill-advised; it’s fatal.

After two assassination attempts against President Trump in two months, it should be clear to every American that something is deeply wrong with our country. Now, we must make a decision. Will we discern the signs and tackle the problem? Or will we join the company of those who, like Buchanan, dance around the tinderbox, hoping that it magically defuses?

America, I invite you to join me this week in a time of serious prayer, fasting, and soul-searching. Additionally, I encourage you to break free from your desensitized, media-inflicted silo. Talk to your neighbors or someone at church. Find common ground with a stranger you might otherwise disagree with. We must cure the sickness at the heart of our troubled existence — and we must do so on our knees, with a hand outstretched to our neighbor (Luke 10:25-37).

The signs of the times portend nasty waters ahead. Are we willing to face the storm head-on, carving deeply — perhaps even painfully — into the nation’s heart until we find the root cause of our woes? Or will we bury our heads in the sand and march unheeding into the chaos that awaits us?