So many key details about the second alleged attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump have yet to emerge, but what is known says nothing good about society.
Some of the elements: The political divides in that society; the easy access to guns; and social media that sequester and embolden partisan groups. All of this combines to heighten tension, veering more readily toward violence. People need to be aware of this toxic mix here as well, because Hawaii plainly is not immune.
Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old Kaaawa resident arrested in connection with the Sunday incident, was charged Monday with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Whether or not more charges are added will depend on what investigators learn while Routh, an Oahu business owner, is in custody. Initial findings included evidence he was at the edge of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf course for 12 hours, starting at 2 a.m. Sunday. That’s seen as an indication of intent, well in advance of his being caught pointing a rifle scope toward where Trump was golfing Sunday afternoon. The precise prompt for Routh’s action is not yet established; his voting record has ranged through the political spectrum.
This incident, disturbingly, occurred less than two months after an actual attempt on Trump’s life in July at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Similarly, a political motive of the shooter in that first case, who was killed after he took his shot that bloodied the former president’s ear, was murky.
But the context for both, occurring in the months before Election Day with political rhetoric boiling over, surely suggests that the vitriol of the presidential campaign season is at least part of the story.
The fact that Routh was not spotted for 12 hours is a strike against the Secret Service, which already had been shamed by the security failures in Butler. However, this time the security detail successfully took preemptive steps, spotting the SKS-style assault rifle and firing on Routh, who had to flee before he could get off a shot.
Also fortunately, a witness reportedly spotted the suspect driving away and photographed the vehicle, and Routh was soon apprehended.
The Secret Service’s more effective response aside, it’s become sadly clear that the security bubble around the presidential candidates is inadequate in these violent times. President Joe Biden rightly urged Congress to boost funding for the service, enabling more expansive protection.
The initial gun charges were made to hold the suspect pending investigation, but they are serious in their own right. The erasure of the serial number makes it more difficult to find who conveyed the assault rifle to a felon whose criminal record included a prior conviction for possessing a machine gun.
Beyond the law-enforcement challenges are dispiriting observations about Hawaii’s own vulnerability to gun violence, with more people accessing and bearing firearms, legal or otherwise. The recent Labor Day weekend mass shooting, leaving four people dead in Waianae, comes to mind; an illegal gun was part of that tragedy, too.
Where this election season is concerned, Hawaii still leans away from the most virulent rhetoric — but leaders here still must underscore the message that violence is never the answer to political disputes.
And in the swing states, with nonstop visits by the candidates, local and federal law enforcement must be on guard. The candidates themselves must turn down the temperature.
In the coming days and weeks, voters will learn more about this past weekend’s attempted shooting, yet another close encounter with political violence. The more important question is whether Americans have the will to solve problems through the ballot box instead.
