All eyes are on America. After the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, society is in shock, and the electoral campaign takes a new turn.
Many commentators are already saying that the former president will win the elections, even though there are over three months left until the voting day on November 6.
The image of Donald Trump injured and with a raised fist will be hard for the Democrats to combat.
"At this moment, it is more important than ever to remain united and show our true American character, staying strong and determined and not allowing evil to prevail," announced Donald Trump in a post published on his online platform "Truth Social."
Within hours of the attack in Pennsylvania, a series of conspiracy theories have already emerged, and representatives of the former president have begun to victimize him, suggesting that the assassination attempt is part of a Democratic plan.
"... they tried to remove him from the ballots, they tried to put him in jail, and now... this...", wrote Chris LaCivita, an advisor to Trump, on social media.
America, Furious and Violent
Even after the serious incident, it is evident that the US remains extremely politically divided, and the Republican leader fails to elicit sympathy from the other camp.
Ronald Reagan, my father, believed that God spared him for a very specific reason, to end the Cold War with the Soviet Union and to try to reach some kind of agreement on nuclear weapons
Patty Davis, daughter of Ronald Reagan
Trump is still seen as a threat by half of the electorate and a fighting hero by the other half.
"America is much angrier and much more violent now than it was in 1981," wrote Patty Davis, 71, daughter of Ronald Reagan, in an article for the New York Times.
She recounts the impact the assassination attempt had on her father on March 30, 1981, and how the tragic event changed the family and the then-president.
"I don't know if the current event will soften some of all this anger and violence. I don't know if the Trump family will have the same experience we went through at that time - a nation that set politics aside and simply reacted humanely. Also, I don't know how, or if, this experience will change Trump," Patty Davis further wrote.
"My father (Ronald Reagan) believed that God spared him for a very specific reason, to end the Cold War with the Soviet Union, to try to reach some kind of agreement on nuclear weapons. It is possible that everything he and Mikhail Gorbachev achieved would not have happened if he hadn't been shot," emphasized the daughter of the former American president.
The Longest Day
The Republican Party Convention, where Donald Trump will be officially nominated as the presidential candidate, began on Monday, being the first public event where Trump will speak after the assassination attempt.
It is very hard to imagine that the armed attack did not have a significant psychological impact on the former US head of state.
"On March 30, 1981, I was in my therapist's office when one of the Secret Service agents burst in. At first, I was angry, thinking: <Now they're barging into my therapy sessions?>, but then I saw how pale his face was. He told me: <Patti, there has been a shooting>," recounted the daughter of President Ronald Reagan about the day her father was shot as a result of a gunshot.
"That day was one of the longest in my life. I didn't know if he would survive, and I later found out that even the doctors searching for bullet fragments in his chest didn't know that," she wrote in the American daily.
"I took a long flight on an army transport plane, arriving in Washington D.C. a few hours before sunrise; I found my mother sleeping with one of my father's shirts stuck to her face to breathe in his scent; I found my father pale, fragile in a hospital bed, with a lost look... And there was also the state of amazement in the country in the following days - strangers who came to me gently, with compassion. Politics became irrelevant, at least for a while," recalled Patty Davis, daughter of Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004).
Trump Will Be Psychologically Affected
It is extremely hard to assume that the attack on Donald Trump will not have any impact on him and his family.
In the first 30 days after such an experience, acute stress disorder can develop, and after this period, a more complex post-traumatic stress disorder could occur. Specialized care is recommended
Violeta Șerban, psychiatrist
The account of Patty Davis, who went through a similar experience, is hard not to take seriously. The only question is how and in what way Donald Trump will change?
"Traumatic experiences can lead to feelings of shame and isolation. People who have experienced trauma can feel different from others, even from those closest to them, such as relatives and friends. They may believe that no one else understands their experience and that they do not deserve compassion," according to a study published by McLean Hospital, analyzing the behavior of wounded soldiers.
Violeta Șerban, a psychiatrist, in a discussion with spotmedia.ro about the impact of the armed attack on Donald Trump, said that in the "first 30 days acute stress disorder can develop," and later, after this period, "a more complex post-traumatic stress disorder could develop." Both are accompanied by manifestations and disorders with effects on sleep, memory, appetite, and physical reactions.
It is recommended that Donald Trump receive specialized care to overcome this dramatic obstacle in his life, according to psychiatrist Violeta Șerban.
Biden's Decision
After the assassination attempt on the former American president, a new political stage has been entered where the whole story will be rewritten.
It is certain that Donald Trump is favored to win the elections, but other events with the potential to shape the electoral campaign that the whole world is watching and on which many future global developments depend will follow.
The first event will be represented by the decision that Joe Biden must make regarding whether he remains in the presidential race, with Trump's tragic experience making the political survival of the current US president even more challenging.