The attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a 20-year-old man from suburban Pittsburgh has riveted the nation’s attention. I have no wish to clutter the commentary with surplus verbiage. The National Association of Scholars is appalled by the murder of former fire chief Corey Comperatore and the attempted murder of Mr. Trump. We are on alert for news of whether the assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had been enrolled in any college program, and we are likewise watching to see how faculty and students on campuses around the country respond to this grievous event.
I will add this personal note. I grew up in suburban Pittsburgh and attended a high school in a township adjacent to Bethel Park, where Mr. Crooks attended school and still lived. I also had family who lived not far from Butler, and my uncle worked there. I still have friends who live nearby. I feel kinship with the people who attended the rally and admire how they handled themselves amid the horror. Pittsburgh is a heavily Democratic city, but its suburbs are purple, and the exurbs are famously Trumpian red. I am sure that no matter their political coloration, everyone in the region is appalled.
I head an organization that steers clear of partisan politics, but NAS is very much engaged in the great cultural debates of our time. Among those debates are how best to restore civility and the rule of law to a nation divided. The increasing resort to violent rhetoric and imagery gin up fear and intensify hostilities that undermine the republic. NAS stands as a proponent of the self-possession and restraint that have always been the noblest elements in American character.
Photo by Gage Skidmore of Donald Trump // Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0 // Cropped
