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Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, urged Americans to collectively step back from the edge after an attempted assassination of Donald Trump<\/a> enflamed temperatures across the nation.<\/p>\n The United States is facing its deepest political crisis<\/a> in over three years, after a bullet fired from a would-be assassin\u2019s AR-15 rifle grazed Trump\u2019s head, leaving him bleeding from the ear but otherwise not injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n One man was\u00a0killed<\/a>\u00a0and two wounded before Secret Service sharpshooters took out the shooter.<\/p>\n \u201cHoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity,\u201d wrote Altman, whose ChatGPT helped launch the AI revolution.<\/p>\n thinking a lot about what a difference an inch can make to history.<\/p>\n hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity.<\/p>\n i am happy\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Sam Altman (@sama) July 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n His sentiment was echoed by Trump\u2019s wife, Melania, who warned the \u201cfabric of our gentle nation is tattered\u201d, before going on to praise those reaching out across the political divide.<\/p>\n \u201cLet us remember that when the time comes to look beyond the left and the right, beyond the red and the blue, we all come from families with the passion to fight for a better life together,\u201d the former First Lady wrote on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The attempt on Trump\u2019s life follows a divisive Supreme Court decision earlier this month granting sitting Presidents\u00a0blanket immunity<\/a>. <\/p>\n Lawyers for the former president, seeking to\u00a0free him of any guilt<\/a>\u00a0associated with the events on Jan. 6 three years ago, successfully argued the country\u2019s head of state can break the law provided his action can be deemed an official act.<\/p>\n This led to comments, including from a\u00a0BBC journalist<\/a>, that Biden was now free to have his opponent assassinated under the arguments<\/a>\u00a0of Trump\u2019s\u00a0own legal team<\/a>. <\/p>\n Much like David Aaronovitch of the BBC, LinkedIn<\/a> co-founder Reid Hoffman was also forced to clarify his prior comments wishing that the former president was an \u201cactual martyr<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some on the left have been outright blunt in expressing their genuine frustration that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks<\/a> failed. <\/p>\n An aide to Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi\u00a0was sacked<\/a>\u00a0for recommending other would-be killers first take shooting lessons so they wouldn\u2019t miss.<\/p>\n Trump has long availed himself of similar violent rhetoric, pledging to root out American opponents he branded\u00a0\u201cvermin<\/a>\u201c. <\/p>\n But with pollsters saying the election is now\u00a0Trump\u2019s to lose<\/a>, he\u2019s expected to take a\u00a0more presidential tone<\/a>\u00a0when he formally accepts the nomination on behalf of the party this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the ideological fronts gradually hardening over the past two decades, politicians are seeing the number of impressionable swing voters declining. <\/p>\n As a result, emphasis has shifted to ensuring your base is more motivated to head to the polls than that of your opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, inflammatory rhetoric serves a key purpose, according to election strategist and former aide to President Obama\u00a0Julius van de Laar<\/a>: getting out the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a basic principle in political communication observed in particular from the more recent campaigns, which says there\u2019s no mobilization without polarization,\u201d van de Laar\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0German broadcaster ARD on Sunday. \u201cThis however leads to the open rifts [in society] widening further.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Following the attempt on Trump\u2019s life, President Biden called for\u00a0temperatures to cool<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n
Democrat in Congress fires aide over violent rhetoric<\/h2>\n
\u2018No mobilization without polarization\u2019<\/h2>\n