Galston sees Graham, not Vance, as the GOP's voice of reason, after assassination attempt

Analyzing the article

The Wall Street Journal

Our Analysis: 0 Fallacies

Since the frightening scene that unfolded Saturday evening in Butler, Pa., members of both political parties have urged their leaders to pause, take a collective deep breath and de-escalate the vehement rhetoric. They've asked partisans to remember that the other side's members are opponents, not enemies, and that pointing the finger of blame isn't helpful.

...in our divided land where neither side will abandon the contest, we must find a way of living peaceably, as fellow citizens. As Saturday's events reminded us, the alternative is far worse.

William Galston argues that both political parties must reject inflammatory rhetoric and violence in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. While acknowledging the heated political climate, the author calls for a return to democratic norms, civil discourse, and finding common ground. While making a forceful argument, we do not see any clear fallacies or logical leaps in his essay.

• The author presents two main options on how to move forward in talking about the assassination attempt:

Which will it be in the coming days, the path of Mr. Graham [who responded "as a human being... not as a partisan"] or that of Mr. Vance [who blamed "BIden's rhetoric" for the assassination attempt]?
...

Will convention speakers accuse Democrats of being complicit in murders committed by illegal aliens, as Stephen Miller did when he spoke at the recent National Conservatism Conference in Washington? Or will the speakers follow the lead of Melania Trump, whose statement after the attempt on her husband's life called for a restoration of respect among fellow Americans?

Often when an arguer presents just two options, they are overlooking other alternatives and thus committing the false dilemma fallacy. But we do not see that being the case here. Presenting those two options:

Blaming the other side and casting them as an enemy of democracy
Calling for unity and halting divisive enemy-making rhetoric

May not actually constitute a false dilemma fallacy. Those could reasonably be viewed as the two primary paths forward in this heated political climate - either further escalating the rhetoric and divisiveness, or actively working to de-escalate tensions and find common ground. There may not be many other viable alternatives beyond those two general approaches.

References

William A. Galston (2024, Jul 15). A Chance to Reject Political Violence.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-chance-to-reject-political-violence-trump-assassination-attempt-e288e559

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Disclaimer

Note that there being no fallacies in this article means only that the arguer makes no illogical leaps from premises to conclusions. Checking for fallacies is not the same as verification of the premises the arguer starts from, such as facts that the arguer asserts or principles that the arguer assumes as the foundation for constructing arguments. For more about this, see our 'What is Fallacy Checking?'

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