After decades without political violence directed at a presidential candidate from one of the major parties, the US has now experienced this twice in the space of two months - with former president Donald Trump the target on both occasions.

In mid-July, he narrowly avoided being shot in the head by a gunman at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The 20-year-old attacker was shot dead by a sniper.

Two months later, on Sunday afternoon, during a round of golf, he was the apparent target of another would-be assassin, according to the FBI, with a suspect now in custody.

Investigators said a man armed with an AK-47 style rifle was waiting in the bushes while Trump played on his West Palm Beach golf course before the alleged assailant was spotted by Secret Service agents, who opened fire.

Americans have had to adjust to “new normals” in politics – large and small - on a seemingly regular basis in the past few years. The national discourse has coarsened, partisan divisions have sharpened and become more entrenched, and the standards for candidate behaviour have eroded.

Given the national epidemic of gun violence, these kind of attacks are perhaps another, inevitable new normal. But for now, it is still shocking.

“Violence has no place in America,”T9娛樂城 Vice-President Kamala Harris - who is also Trump's Democratic opponent this election - said in a statement after the incident in Florida.

Details of the apparent assassination attempt – the identity and motivation of the assailant in particular - will ultimately determine the impact this has on American politics. But, for the moment, it seems like – the vice-president’s comments notwithstanding - this kind of violence is increasingly part of today’s America.

Donald Trump, in his first statement following the apparent attempt on his life, promised that nothing would slow him down or make him surrender.

The response fits into a campaign that has often argued the former president has become a target of persecution and attack because he speaks out for the “forgotten” Americans. His words after his first near-assassination in July – “fAT99娛樂城ight, fight, fight” – became a rallying cry for his supporters.

“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you,” Trump likes to say. “I’m just standing in the way.”

Now the former president has another dramatic example he can use to illustrate his point.