Here's What Frenzied Democrats Did Right After Trump's Rally Shooting

After former president Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, frenzied Democrats have halted their efforts to replace President Joe Biden as their nominee. “I think it’s over,” a Biden ally said to NBC News. “You just lose all momentum.” Biden was on a damage control trip in the weeks before the shooting incident that injured Trump, killed a Republican supporter, and injured other rallygoers.

Biden had been convening caucuses with House Democrats and reaching out to lawmakers after a disastrous debate performance on June 27, but many elected officials were unimpressed, Axios reported. “They were having a very bad political day, and then we had this supernova event. Now, it’s frozen,” said a longtime Democratic strategist. “If you’re an advocate for, ‘How do we tell the old man it’s time to go?’ — it’s really hard to have that conversation publicly. This event blocks out the sun right now.”

Following the horrific event, Biden acted quickly and decisively. In a live broadcast statement to the country, he denounced the violence and called for unity and peace. The Biden campaign put a stop to politics and the Democratic National Committee followed suit, stopping all commercials targeting Trump on television and billboards. This came in the light of Republicans citing the Democratic language of Trump as a threat to democracy as having prompted the perpetrator.

An internal email stated that the Biden campaign personnel were to "pause any proactive campaign communication across all platforms and in all circumstances until we know more" and "refrain from issuing any comments on social media or in public." Biden himself, echoing one of his foundational themes from his 2019 campaign, said on live TV, “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick, it’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country.”

A Biden ally pointed out that during a situation like this, it would be inappropriate for anyone in the Democratic Party to try to discredit Biden. “It’s likely the effort to dislodge Biden has ended. He’s not going to voluntarily step aside at this moment,” the ally said. “Biden demonstrated he’s going to fight.” Critics were always pressured for time if they wanted to remove Biden from his position. Most likely, a virtual vote for the nomination will occur weeks before the Democratic National Convention, which is set for mid-August. As such there won't be enough time to remove Biden and find a worthwhile replacement.

Although the issue is at an impasse right now, it may come back again. A Democrat donor who has recently expressed reservations against Biden told The Hill, “This is not the time. That’s not to say it won’t come back in a few days or next week. But it would be incredibly insensitive to have the debate on Biden right now.” They added, “We all need to take a breath and see what happens.”