WASHINGTON, July 15. /TASS/. The assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump during an election rally indicates that American society no longer believes in the legitimacy of the country's political system, Paul Saunders, president of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington-based think tank, said in an article for The National Interest magazine.

According to him, political violence should be considered "a symptom of a general belief in our political system’s illegitimacy" which is actively encouraged by all sides of the political process. The expert notes that the United States is currently experiencing a crisis of legitimacy that could destroy the country's political system "with devastating consequences for America and the world." In Saunders' estimation, American political and media elites, and from both parties, are responsible for this crisis. For the past half century, they "have been shockingly energetic in attacking the legitimacy of the political system that produces and maintains them."

The expert believes that the assassination attempt on Trump could lead to an uncontrollable development of events. So, even if it turns out that the attacker was mentally ill, it will not be easy to present the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate as a non-political event. Saunders cautions that in this context, activists may consider further violence "as not merely justified but also necessary" as a response or to prevent such attacks. So, radical Trump supporters may try to organize a "citizens militias" to provide additional security necessary from their point of view at future election rallies or at polling stations on election day, the expert believes.

The assassination attempt on Trump took place on July 13 at an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The bullet grazed the ex-president's ear, his life is out of danger. As a result of the shooting, one of his supporters was killed. The attacker, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by Secret Service officers. The motives of the perpetrator are still unknown.