Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 local time. Trump was injured in a shooting in what the FBI says was an assassination attempt. Photo: VCG

China is following the shooting incident at the campaign rally of former US President Donald Trump. President Xi Jinping has expressed his sympathies to former President Trump, China's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. 

Former US President said he was shot in the right ear on Saturday local time at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, the AP reported, citing law enforcement officials. 

The suspected shooter is dead and an attendee was killed. Two other attendees are critically injured. Trump's campaign says he is "fine" after being whisked off the stage and was checked out at a local medical facility, according to the media report. 

The FBI on Sunday named the "subject involved" as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, US media reported. The alleged shooter's motive was not immediately clear. Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence, Reuters reported. 

According to New York Times, the gunman did not have a criminal history reflected in Pennsylvania's public court records, and officials said they had not identified a motive. A voter-registration record showed that Crooks was registered as a Republican, though federal campaign-finance records show he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a liberal voter turnout group, through the Democratic donation platform ActBlue in January 2021. US media reported that this year's presidential election would have been the first he was old enough to vote in.

"There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it," US President Joe Biden said in a statement following the shooting incident. Meanwhile, heads of state worldwide also reacted with shock and condemnation to the violence at the Trump rally.

Political violence 

There is no doubt that the identity and background of the gunman who attacked Trump is being closely watched by the public. "The gunman's background has three possibilities," Li Haidong, a professor from the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

"First, it could be someone from the deep state, an elusive force within the government that does not want to see Trump win. Second, it could be from the far-left extremist forces, who do not want to see Trump, representing the far-right, win the election and thus have taken radical actions. Lastly, it could be an individual extremist without any organizational background, simply a person who is tired of Trump," Li said. 

"If the shooting was an organized act, then there is no doubt that this incident was premeditated. If it was the work of an individual extremist, then it was likely random. We now must wait for the results of the investigation from the US authorities," Li added.

A CNN analysis said that "the attempted assassination, which opens a dark new chapter in America's cursed story of political violence, shook a nation already deeply estranged during one of the most tense periods of its modern history."

Some Chinese experts said it is not uncommon for a sitting president, presidential candidate, and other political figure to be the subject of attack, shooting, or assassination throughout American history. 

"This indicates that political violence has been a persistent element in American history. On the other hand, the fact that such malicious incidents still occur at political rallies attended by former president, despite security measures, highlights the ongoing rampant gun violence issue in the US and the seeming 'intractability' of the problem," Diao Daming, a professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

In recent years, American politics has shifted from mutual opposition based on political stances to a politics of personal vendetta, Diao noted. "This kind of revenge politics, manifested through violence, is a clear indicator of this shift." 

On the other hand, it underscores that this election is a showdown between the former president and the current president, essentially a clash between two different visions of America. This confrontation further tears apart American society and incites more violent outbursts, Diao said. 

Chinese netizens have been gripped by the shocking incident, with relevant topics trending on Chinese social media sites such as X-like platform Weibo and Xiaohongshu.

They said the incident shows that the US democracy is in deep trouble, as the country will be more divided. Some predict that Trump might face more assassination attempts in the future, because Trump's enemies within the US political system or extreme anti-Trump activists have to recognize that after the recent controversial presidential debate and the shooting incident, they have almost no chance to beat Trump by other legal means like election or court case, and then some will choose the more risky and extreme measure to attack him.  

Global Times also found that a number of Chinese e-commerce platforms were quick to offer T-shirts featuring a photo of Trump at the shooting scene.  

A vendor on e-commerce platform Pinduoduo told The Global Times on Sunday that since they posted products this morning, dozens of orders had been filled. The vendor said that there were no bulk sales made and that each customer just ordered one T-shirt. Additionally, customers placed orders directly and without hesitation.

Toxic atmosphere

Some experts said that this shooting incident is reminiscent of the 1972 shooting of Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace. "The current chaos in the US is somewhat reminiscent of the turmoil from the late 1960s to the early 1970s," Lü Xiang, an expert on American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

The expert believes that this incident may strengthen Trump's campaign edge, especially given the image of him with blood coming from his right ear yet still raising his fist while being escorted away by security. "The Republican Party will likely work to portray it as a heroic moment for Trump," said Lü, noting that the Republican Party will emphasize that Trump remained undeterred and will continue to hold rallies.

"In the midst of relentless mutual accusations and personal attacks between the two elderly candidates, a toxic atmosphere is continuously building up. In such a poisonous environment, it is not hard to imagine one or even more violent incidents occurring," Lü said. 

As the campaign approaches its final four months, all parties will intensify their efforts to create momentum, leading to an increasingly heated election atmosphere. Especially in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, there will be more rallies and promotional activities. Additionally, there will be more instances of presidential candidates interacting with the public and making appearances at public events, experts said. 

Top Trump aides said the former president will still attend the Republican convention, which is scheduled to begin on Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Trump is scheduled to formally accept his party's nomination and deliver remarks on Thursday night, according to US media reports. 

"The notion that a shooting incident will necessarily benefit the candidate who was shot is not a given. Whether the shot presidential candidate gains ultimate victory due to the shooting incident depends on the specific circumstances of the election at the time," Li said. 

"Drawing the conclusion that the party who was shot will inevitably win the election is unscientific," he said, noting that it is impossible to predict what might happen in the next three months of the US election. "The biggest characteristic of American elections is their unpredictability."

Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday that in recent years, the quality of the partisan system in the US has deteriorated. In the past, the system was able to work, as most members of both parties are still moderates. Their political views are different, but they were not so extreme, and they could cooperate on many issues. "But now we can see that the Congress voting along party lines on almost every issue, and partisan politics is becoming more polarized," Jin noted.

"Americans used to be proud of the idea that they have the wisdom of compromise, which makes them differ from the extremes of the French political atmosphere. But now that they are also extreme and reckless, there is less room for moderates," Jin said.

"In addition, the gap between the rich and the poor in the US is widening, the middle class is shrinking, and social polarization is also very serious. Many specific social conflicts, such as immigration and economic policy, are very confrontational," Jin said, and he warned that when the capitalists of the US are getting divided, there is a risk of civil war.