Shock, sympathy, skepticism, and a bit of fear entered the minds of several Black Georgia lawmakers on Saturday in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
State Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, said he was stunned Saturday when he heard news reports of shots ringing out at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Moments later, a bloody-eared Trump was shown being whisked away from the stage by Secret Service members.
“I was just in awe as it unfolded to see what has happened to our country,” Gilliard, who serves as chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, told Capital B Atlanta via text message on Saturday.
The suspected gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, allegedly fired at the stage from a rooftop a few hundred feet away, according to a statement from the FBI. One of his bullets apparently pierced Trump’s right ear before the former president was swarmed by Secret Service officers who eventually rushed him to safety off stage. At least one bystander died during the incident and two more were critically injured.
The assassination attempt put Georgia Democrats in a somewhat compromising position. Many view the former president as a legitimate threat to democracy. Trump has been criminally charged in Fulton County in connection with his campaign’s efforts to undo the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, which he lost. And hundreds of his supporters have been arrested, charged or jailed for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which many believe Trump was responsible for inciting, although he hasn’t been formally charged in that incident.
But Black Democratic lawmakers also recognized the threat to democracy posed by those who would use political violence against Trump at a time when many Americans are nervous about the future of their country.
“In America, we settle our political differences democratically — not violently,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock wrote on X Saturday night. “I am deeply saddened by today’s events in Pennsylvania. I condemn any violence aimed at former President Trump in the strongest terms, and pray for him, his family & our nation. We are better than this.”
The attempt on Trump’s life was the type of shooting that U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Georgia, has spent years speaking out about. McBath is the Black congresswoman whose son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot by a white man in a gas station parking lot in 2012.
“Nobody is safe from gun violence in our country. From a former President to my own son,” McBath said in her own X post on Saturday. “We cannot allow any place for political violence. My prayers are with the former President. We can and must do better.”
Gilliard and other members of the largest state-level Black caucus in the nation also condemned the attack on Trump, a man whose character and politics are deeply unpopular among Black people in Georgia and across the nation. The most recent poll from the Pew Research Center shows Trump with 13% support among Black voters, compared with 64% for President Joe Biden.
“We cannot use violence and be a United States [that] practices violence as a method to the ballot,” Gilliard said. “We’ve got to be a United States that focuses on following the principles of democracy and not the principles of hate.”
Rep. James Beverly, D-Macon, told Capital B Atlanta the brazen attack on a former president was “inconceivable.”
“I am relieved that former President Trump is safe, but this incident serves as a stark reminder of the need to condemn and prevent political violence,” he said.
The lone Black Republican in the Georgia General Assembly, Mesha Mainor, R-Atlanta, offered prayers for Trump and called for an end to the political polarization that may have led to this shooting.
“While division and vitriol is at an all-time high, this is still America and our leaders are determined at the ballot box — not by violence,” Mainor said. “What a sad day for our country.”
The FBI is investigating the Trump shooting as a legitimate assassination attempt. But some Georgia lawmakers, including Rep. Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta, expressed skepticism over whether the attack was real, echoing views expressed by many on social media.
Bruce is one of the lawmakers who introduced legislation earlier this year that sought to bar Trump and alleged insurrectionists from running for statewide office.
“He has lied so much, it makes it hard to immediately accept that this was not staged,” Bruce said.
It’s too early to say how the incident will affect the White House race, said Gbemende Johnson, political science professor at the University of Georgia.
“I think it definitely would make Trump appear sympathetic,” Johnson said of the shooting. “Does that translate into political support? Not necessarily. I think we can recognize a person’s humanity. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to vote for them. You’re empathizing with that person.”
