(Excerpt)
SIXTY-THREE
WHEN WORDS BECOME MARCHING ORDERS
“Political violence is a confession.
It reveals the moral bankruptcy of those who use it.”
— Robert Dixon McKinley
Saturday, July
13, 2024
Butler, Pennsylvania
The afternoon sun hung low over the Butler fairgrounds, glinting off thousands of American flags. Families in red hats clustered near the stage, music thumped through the speakers, and a feeling of anticipation rippled across the crowd. Then, without warning, the air cracked. A single gunshot. Then another. Gasps turned to screams as Secret Service agents hurled themselves toward Donald J. Trump.
For an instant—long enough for a nation to hold its breath—the future of the Republic depended on whether a bullet found its mark.