A party convention is typically a moment to rally the base with fiery, red-meat rhetoric. In the wake of an assassination attempt, many are urging presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to take a different tone.

• Israel strike: Israel says it tried to assassinate Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of the Hamas group’s military wing. The strike took place in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding nearly 300 more, according to local health officials.
• Trump shooting suspect: The portrait pieced together so far of the 20-year-old nursing home aide who allegedly tried to assassinate Donald Trump at an election rally reveals little.
• Trump classified documents case: The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of former President Donald Trump in Florida dismisses the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case.
• Russia offensive: Russia’s Defense Ministry says its forces had taken control of the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which if confirmed would be the latest in a series of gains.
• Texas power: Around 270,000 homes and businesses are still without power in the Houston area almost a week after Hurricane Beryl.

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The first shooting of a current or former president in 40-plus years, and at a far more polarized time in American politics, raises urgent questions about how best to tamp down political violence between now and Election Day. 

At a time when a majority of Americans believe the high court makes decisions based on ideology rather than on the law, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has quietly charted an independent path, even on hot-button issues.

With a few exceptions, African countries are rarely featured on global “where to visit” lists. Now, women travel bloggers from the continent are writing themselves into the story.

Courts and lawmakers can focus public attention. In the United States, airlines adopt staff trainings to better support wheelchair users. And an international tribunal for the first time links ocean health to greenhouse gas emissions.

In recent years, incidents ranging from attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers to the attack on the U.S. Capitol have elevated concern that political violence is on the rise in the United States. That fear deepened with the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.

For his part, after the shooting, President Joe Biden appealed to Americans, saying, “No matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.” Democracy, he said, is founded on reason, balance, decency, and dignity.

Opinion surveys have measured two seemingly contradictory beliefs about politics and violence. A PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll in April found that 20% of American adults think political violence may be a necessary means for achieving policy goals. A month earlier, however, in a survey by the Institute of Politics and Public Service, 88% of respondents believe leaders of different parties should seek compromises to lower political division.

The discrepancy may not be as sharp as those numbers indicate. Using wider samples of the population, a 2022 study by political scientists at Dartmouth, Stanford, and the University of California, Santa Barbara found that “not only is support for violence low overall, but support drops considerably as political violence becomes more severe.”

In contrast, as the National Conference of State Legislatures has noted, initiatives to cultivate civility have multiplied in recent years, improving passage rates for legislation and building public trust. Similar projects are underway in cities across the country to renew civic affections across policy divides.

Such work starts with political opponents showing more interest in each other as individuals than as stand-ins for a differing policy position. “If we reach the point where we dehumanize the people we disagree with, anything is possible,” noted Stephen Henderson, co-founder of The Civility Project, on the organization’s website. “We must step back and learn to talk to people as people, rather than political adversaries.”

Scott Shigeoka, a fellow at the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, takes that idea deeper. Seeing the individual rather than seeing a political enemy, he told the John Templeton Foundation, requires asking, “Who are the people that are important to you that made you who you are today?” That level of connecting can reveal common humanity and shared values.

After the Trump rally shooting, legislators in Kentucky gathered in a joint session to reflect. State Senate President Robert Stivers encouraged his colleagues to look across the aisle. “They are your political opponent, but they are not your personal enemies,” he said.

Political aggression is often its own worst enemy because it evokes a renewal of the peaceful values of democracy.