Trump rally
What effect will the attempted assassination of Donald Trump have on the election? Betting markets and online commentary are pointing firmly in one direction, but the campaign still has a long way to run.
As the discourse and noise around the assassination attempt on Donald Trump continues, commentators and analysts are making a valiant effort to answer a possibly unanswerable question: what effect will this have on the US presidential election?
The prevailing view, with some justification, is that the failed assassination attempt is a considerable boon to Trump’s electoral chances, which were already ascending on the back of the public debate and consternation over whether Joe Biden is remotely up to the job.
It seems that the efforts by some Democratic lawmakers, donors and influencers to politely shake Biden from his roost — efforts which were already struggling — are more or less dead in the water, at least for now. As NBC News reported, insiders on both sides of the intra-party debate agree the momentum for change is gone.
The consensus online and in the media is that the weekend's events have boosted Trump’s chances. For many, the photo of a bloodstained Trump thrusting his fist defiantly to the sky under the billowing American flag was instantly both a globally historic image and a guarantee of his victory in November.
