As a rule of the thumb, the longer your stomach (and its bacteria) have to work to get calories extracted from a food (this has a big correlation with the food not being excessively pre-processed, and also has a big correlation with lack of additives) - the better it is for you. :)
We will surely learn the precise reasons later. Until then, acting upon that information is possible without knowing why. :)
The interesting part: Democrat officials made public statements about going silent for a while, and those statements reached headlines even in Europe. You can go silent and still have your statements in headlines.
Also, as far as money and efficiency are involved - if they save money now, they can advertise more later. Currently, advertising against Trump would have a low efficiency, since he currently receives positive attention. I think their current action plan is “let’s wait for Trump to open his mouth”.
Knowing psychology, almost any PR advisor will advise to temporarily cease media attacks against a person who’s been shot.
As a minimum, messages may need to be reworded, because Trump is likely to change his messaging after his narrow escape.
Some notes:
almost no doubt: this will have a mobilizing effect for Trump supporters (“our great leader is being attacked”, etc)
possibly: this will improve Trump’s ratings among voters with no clear political preference (a big story where he’s not the villain is what he needs)
pattern: historically, surviving an assassination attempt has improved a candidate’s chances of getting elected; in the most recent example, Slovakia’s prime minister Fico enjoyed a boost in ratings while in hospital after being seriously wounded
I don’t blame Democrats for temporarily ceasing campaign advertisement. Two principles dictate this: “you don’t kick a person who is already down” (Trump was incredibly lucky and isn’t) and “you don’t attack someone who has martyrdom effect”. Generally, you wait until the dust settles. Democrats too will wait until the dust settles. They will also check the popularity ratings and decide how to proceed.
In my opinion, Democrats would strongly benefit from a younger candidate. I would advise getting someone under 55 to run. Among the wider population, not enough people understand that, as things are, the Democratic candidate is Kamala Harris, her name is just currently Joe Biden. :o
Overall, it seems that Trump has considerable chances of getting elected president. Preventing that will require exceptional effort and considerable luck. Only if the Democrats manage to paint a clear picture of what a Trump presidential term would bring about, and only if that picture causes their voters to show up and vote nearly without exception - only then will things turn out differently.
My personal view from Eastern Europe - contingency plans for a Trump presidency ceasing aid to Ukraine have a very high probability of occurrence now (estimated time: early 2025). Over here, everyone and their cat will researching cheap weapons systems to replace things that only the US can provide. I think that group will now include myself.
Regarding infiltration of the police - a similar theme played out in Greece during the 2008 economic crisis, when Golden Dawn vied for power - they tried hard to infiltrate the police, and succeeded to a considerable degree.
At some point, they made a mistake, though - GD thugs killed a popular leftist rapper named Pavlos Fyssas. He was able to point out who stabbed him. His death caused widespread rioting. Rioting incapacitated GD temporarily by blocking and damaging their party offices while the security service raided high-ranking members for evidence (apparently they didn’t manage to infiltrate counterintelligence and in the confusion probably couldn’t dispose of evidence even if they knew of incoming raids) …and evidence was plentiful. They were banned and leaders got meaningful sentences in courts.
Only in a country where entering the police force requires lengthy studies to obtain a diploma (and background checks), is there some chance of random bozos not worming their way in. Most states of the US aren’t such a place, sadly.