Following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, local Democrats and Republicans found common ground in their shock at the event.
“I was thanking God that he was OK,” state Rep. Hardy Billington (R-Poplar Bluff) remarked.
He believed God intervened to save Trump’s life.
“I hate to see violence of any kind,” Butler County Democrat Jean Cross stated. “It’s just a horrible thing that people take up violence to prove a point.”
Stoddard County Republican Central Committee Chairman Wayne Jean recalled his reaction when he heard the news.
“I was shocked,” he said. “That shouldn’t happen at all.”
Jean said political violence at such a high level seemed unlikely to him before this event. Billington wondered how the lapse in security happened.
“There should’ve been someone on that roof,” he stated.
He remembered other campaign events he attended and noted there were Secret Service personnel and law enforcement on every rooftop.
“It should have never happened,” he asserted.
Billington wondered if the Biden administration failed to provide enough Secret Service resources to the Trump campaign.
Jean said, “You wonder how that guy got into position to do what he did.”
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley called for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to launch an investigation into the attempt, according to a press release from his office Sunday.
“Our prayers are with President Trump, the family of the slain American, and the innocent civilians who were injured. We owe it to the victims and the American people to get to the bottom of what happened. The American people have questions. And they deserve answers,” Hawley wrote.
Billington commented, “We’ve always been passionate about what we believe in this country, but we can do it in a more civil way.”
He believes the polarized rhetoric surrounding Trump by the media and other political figures ultimately led to the attack.
Cross said about the assassin, “It shows how divided we are.” She said the violence is a symptom of the broader political strife, “It’s a very scary time we live in.”
Jean stated the divide between both sides of the aisle has gotten out of control.
“It’s kind of gone too far... We need to work together. We’re all Americans,” she said.
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