Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 | 2 a.m.
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It’s more poetic than coincidence that Donald Trump visited the gun shop in South Carolina where a white supremacist armed himself to mow down Black people in Jacksonville, Fla. It harkens back to Ronald Reagan’s decision to start his 1980 presidential campaign at the place in Mississippi where three civil rights workers had been murdered.
But Trump’s visit is more concerning because we’ve already experienced political violence and are increasingly hearing calls for more if Trump doesn’t get his way in 2024.
Trump’s visit to Palmetto State Armory wasn’t a dog whistle. It was a call to act much like his “stand back and stand by” command to the Proud Boys months before the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol to try and overturn an election Trump had lost.
He could have chosen to visit any number of gun manufacturers in South Carolina, though Palmetto’s reach is wide in the state, including its expansion into a building that was once home of the area’s only daily newspaper. That his campaign initially bragged about the former president buying a Glock before saying he had not is illustrative of the stark nature of the present moment. A Trump spokesperson backtracked and said Trump had made no such purchase, only after being informed such an act could have been illegal given that Trump is under federal indictment.
A young Black rapper’s decision to wave a gun around on social media is often condemned as glorifying violence. Trump posed for a photo with a Glock 19 that featured his likeness. Instead of condemnation, his supporters quickly labeled his actions “bad ass.”
Think about the imagery. The standard bearer of the self-described “pro-life” party thought it cool to align himself with the shop where a young white supremacist was able to arm himself with a powerful weapon of war despite a questionable background. It was a purposeful photo op. The tweet falsely claiming Trump bought a gun was to be icing on the cake. He didn’t have to be explicit, didn’t have to say he was courting the blood-stained hands of racists, white supremacists and white nationalists. All he had to do was show up at Palmetto State Armory and smile. They’d surely get the message, particularly after weekend rants on social media that included threats against those who oppose him.
Palmetto State Armory’s history includes selling products with the word “boogaloo,” a term about toppling the federal government, and “You lie!” after Rep. Joe Wilson infamously yelled those words as the nation’s first Black president was delivering a State of the Union speech in 2009. It’s no wonder a young white supremacist who would go on to massacre three Black people in a Dollar General in August with a gun decorated with a swastika felt at home there.
And it’s not a wonder why Trump chose that place to make a campaign appearance. Because he wanted to send a message. That he cares more about himself than the health of this democracy. That if the country found itself amid another violent insurrection attempt next year, he would more likely cheer on the insurrections than call for calm or peace if he couldn’t get what he wanted.
We are in a precarious moment. The leading presidential candidate for one of our two major political parties is openly hinting at the threat of violence to avoid being held legally accountable for his actions and to guarantee political victory. Tens of millions of Americans are following lockstep behind him while countless others are too cowed to notice or acknowledge what’s happening.
In 2016, the Trump campaign had contact with Russia, one of our primary adversaries, like no other campaign in modern times, not Republican, Democratic, or third-party. After the 2020 election cycle — one in which 7 million more Americans voted for his opponent than him — Trump inspired an attack in the heart of our democracy.
Now he’s playing footsie in gun shops where a violent white supremacist armed himself. Don’t dismiss the danger Trump is obviously and repeatedly courting.
Issac Bailey is a columnist for The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer.
