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Gerald Ford is closest president to Trump who has survived 2 assassination attempts

'It's a challenge to figure out how we can talk about politics without limiting the ability of people to speak what's important to them,' Kevin Wagner says

Politics is a rough and tumble game that local political experts and historians say is currently filled with anger, finger pointing, and rarely any middle ground.

By: Todd Wilson

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Politics is a rough and tumble game that local political experts and historians said is currently filled with anger, finger pointing, and rarely any middle ground.

"It's a challenge to figure out how we can talk about politics without limiting the ability of people to speak what's important to them," Florida Atlantic University professor Kevin Wagner said.

He said the two assassination attempts on former president Donald Trump show there is certainly a significant amount of hostility inside our political system.

"I think it has led to a conversation about how we talk about politics and ultimately how we should talk about the opposition as opposed to using more vitriolic language," he said.

Wagner said part of the challenge is to tamp down the rhetoric.

"If you go back far enough, we just had very limited sources of political news whether it was television or newspapers," he said. "The people speaking, of course today with social media platforms, and everything from TikTok to Instagram, so many people are participating in the process, which is not a bad thing having people participating, but it has coarsened the discourse."

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President Gerald Ford comes to mind when it comes to two assassination attempts in a matter of weeks. The first attempt on Ford's life was Sept. 5, 1975 as he walked the ground of the California state capitol with secret service when he's approached by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. She attempted to shoot him but the gun never went off.

Just 17 days later, Sept. 22, Sara Jane Moore, attempts to assassinate the 38th president as he's walking out of a hotel in San Francisco.

I spoke with retired University of South Florida professor and historian Gary Mormino.

"Gerry Ford would be a perfect example," Mormino said. "Someone who is a moderate Republican, who could get along and did get along with Democrats and Republicans. Those figures are largely banished in American history."

I asked Mormino about the ramifications of the two recent assassination attempts.

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"You wonder what the implications will be for future candidates," Mormino said. "This is truly horrifying and not a good sign for democracy."

Wagner said he's not sure there's an easy solution to any of this.

"Other than maybe as Americans, we need to take some responsibility for how we talk about politics and try and set a good example for the people around us," Wagner said.

According to Mormino, this is not the first assassination attempt of this magnitude in Florida.

He said in 1933 an Italian anarchist tried to shoot president elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt while on vacation in Miami. Instead, the shooter injured then Chicago mayor Anton Cermak.

WPTV's coverage on Trump apparent assassination attempt below: