Editorial: Restraint, respect needed from those who aspire to lead

Politics can be a rough-and-tumble enterprise, a dominion where those with thick skin, steel jaws and bare knuckles thrive. Nobody expects the candidates competing in hotly contested races to resolve their differences with pillow fights.

But in a country where mental health services are sparse for those who need them and nearly everyone has ready access to guns, the overheated rhetoric in the public arena is increasingly dangerous — and those who desire to lead must do better.

On Sunday, the U.S. Secret Service thwarted what it termed an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump as he played golf at his country club in West Palm Beach, Florida. That incident follows one in July in which a gunman opened fire on a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, killing one person and injuring others, including the former president, who was struck in the ear.

Details are still emerging about the alleged gunman but, as with the shooter in July, his political views appear chaotic and hard to discern. He claims to have voted for Trump in 2016 before shifting allegiances to other Republican presidential candidates this year, and he appears to have been animated by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Reporting suggests he also has a lengthy criminal record for weapons violations, calling into question how he was able to obtain the AK-47 Secret Service officers say they recovered at the scene. However, it is a fact of American life that those determined to access firearms can do so, even when they are a demonstrable threat to themselves and others.

Couple that with mental health services that are difficult for those in crisis to access, and together they form a volatile stew for those with ill intent. Wave after wave of disinformation, from domestic and international sources alike, seeks to divide the American electorate, pitting neighbor against neighbor and causing otherwise reasonable citizens to view others as a threat to their way of life.

Worse, though, are candidates and officials who peddle in disinformation as a pathway toward election. Those who willfully traffic in lies do not have your best interests in mind. They do not care about you or your families. And they are unconcerned by the effects of their poisonous rhetoric.

On this, no side is blameless. Both Republicans and Democrats have the opportunistic among their ranks who convince themselves that doing anything to win is simply how the game is played, consequences be damned.

That is why it’s so important, especially at such a fraught moment for our republic, that those seeking elected office and those who hold sway in the political arena seize this moment to elevate the tenor of our debate — to inspire rather than degrade, and to appeal to the better angels of our nature instead of the lowest common denominator.

Case in point: Only hours after the Secret Services detained the alleged gunman on Sunday, Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance baselessly blamed Democratic rhetoric for inspiring the suspect in Florida. He said this even as his hateful attacks on Haitian immigrants — which he admitted on Sunday were fabricated — inspired bomb threats that paralyzed the town of Springfield, Ohio.

Such lies and baseless speculation are incredibly irresponsible. It’s a lack of judgment that those on the campaign trail should wholly reject rather than emulate, and the sort of talk that could make a perilous situation far worse.

We can be thankful that those who represent Virginia, and many of those who seek elected office this year, have responded thoughtfully to these events, including this week after the incident in Florida. All Americans should be thankful that Trump again avoided serious injury this weekend.

There are deeply troubled individuals in this country who need guidance away from violence and back to the realm of respectful, honest debate. They are smoldering with rage, and those worthy of our trust — and of our vote — will dampen those embers with water rather than dousing them with gasoline.