Unfortunately, gun violence – against Trump or anyone else – is all too American | Rebecca Solnit

One person pulled a trigger; thousands of politicians, lobbyists, and gun industry employees made it possible to do so

Political violence is unacceptable and has no place in this country," said Arizona's governor, Katie Hobbs, and political violence has absolutely no place in this country", insisted California congresswoman Barbara Lee, while President Joe Biden stated, There's no place for this kind of violence in America."

As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society," affirmed Nancy Pelosi, referencing the attacker who broke into her home in 2022 to kidnap her and, in her absence, seriously injured her husband. There is no place for political violence in this country, period," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of a kidnapping plot by far-right militiamen in 2020 who intended to make her the centerpiece of a show trial.

Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility