Jon Lieber, Eurasia Group's head of research and managing director for the firm's coverage of United States political and policy developments, shares his perspective on US politics from Washington, DC.
What we're watching in US Politics this week: The Republican National Convention after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Wild weekend with the first assassination attempt in over 40 years against President Donald Trump, former President Donald Trump, this weekend that barely missed lodging a bullet in the back of his brain by several inches. That could have been a history-altering shot if it hadn't missed. And Trump was lucky to get out alive. But he also was able to rally his supporters and the base of the Republican Party behind him. And we're seeing that online this weekend, which is great timing for President Trump as he begins the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Trump has already said that the assassination attempt is changing his approach towards the convention and the campaign, offering up that he's going to take a more moderate and unifying tone, as opposed to one that was attacking current President Joe Biden. Biden gave an Oval Office address last night to also ask for unity in American politics, which is something that has been lacking in recent years as the two parties have increasingly defined themselves in opposition to one another. Prolonged unity is probably too much to ask for both of these guys. There is too much at stake for both parties. Both bases believe that this election is an existential risk to their way of life, and they are willing to fight it out until the very, very end.
But you still might get a very different tone at the RNC than you would have otherwise, as Republicans attempt to capitalize on the momentum from Trump's assassination attempt. No big policy announcements coming this week; the Biden campaign is going to try to get his footing underneath them, once again, as he tries to recover from the terrible debate performance he had two weeks ago. The conventions typically give a small but fading bounce to the candidate that's holding them, and I wouldn't really expect anything different this time around, even as Donald Trump looks like he's starting to open up a reasonable lead in what still looks like a fairly close race.
Thanks for watching, and stay tuned for more this week on the RNC.