‘I’m Tired. I’m Done.’ Nation Faces Exhaustion and Division After Trump Assassination Attempt

On a surreal Sunday across America, the dismal weather—oppressively hot and muggy at the height of high summer—provided a rare point of unity in a country that has seldom felt more divided.

Americans worshiped, went to street fairs, bought fresh corn from the farmers market, sat on park benches—and contemplated the ways in which their day of rest had become a day of exhaustion after a night of tossing and turning.

In a suburb of New Orleans, the Rev. David Watson woke up at 4 a.m. to rewrite his Sunday service, addressing the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

“Events from last night were for a lot of us ground shaking,” he told his congregation at Metairie Ridge Presbyterian Church hours later. “We seek understanding in the midst of seemingly chaotic situations where our humanity has turned us against one another.”

He went on to ask how many people had gotten a great night’s sleep. None of the 15 assembled worshipers raised their hands.

“I’m tired. I’m done. I hope you are, too,” Watson said.

That weariness was palpable nationwide as The Wall Street Journal spoke with more than four dozen people about how they felt about the shooting that came close to killing a former U.S. president. They pointed fingers and expressed anger, fear and heartbreak.

Down the street at Metairie Baptist Church, 63-year-old Jon Payne, a cook who lives nearby, said the shooting is evidence of a nation in decline.

“The world,” he said, “has gone to Hades in a handbasket.”

Questions, but ‘no easy solution’

“We’re in crisis. There is no easy solution, there’s no sound bite,” said Elizabeth Mullaugh, 74, a retired project manager. “We’ve lost our ability to listen or to hear.”

Armando Flores, 49, said his mom, a Cuban immigrant, called him upset Saturday night to tell him about the shooting. He immediately checked YouTube for reports. “It was crazy,” he said. “My initial thought was: This is one of so many reactions and intentions to get Trump out of the race.”

Tom Lauman, a 64 year-old registered Republican in Baltimore, said he couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for either candidate. Lauman, who works in finance, lamented the seeming inevitability of late Saturday.“I’m not surprised that somebody in this day and age, with the media constantly promoting our differences, instead of trying to find compromises—that somebody who’s not quite right mentally has taken it upon themselves to do something,” he said. “I’m not surprised or shocked. I’m just saddened.”

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