Ex-president Donald Trump had something to say about his second apparent assassination attempt, blaming the incendiary political rhetoric that’s been lurking in the media. Little did he know (or not) that it only inflamed the situation.
When a bullet grazed his ear in the latest shooting that killed a rallygoer in July, Trump acted like a completely different man. He even told The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito that he realized he needed to change to bring the country and the rest of the world together.
However, that aspiration didn’t last for too long. To be more precise, it lasted exactly until the opening paragraph of his convention speech. Well, right after the Secret Service thwarted the gunman who had waited for the ex-president at one of his Florida golf courses, Trump’s reaction was totally different this time.
He went on to accuse President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of inviting a couple of assassins to target him, even if they’re the ones saying he is a threat to democracy. He also made some statements to Fox News Digital, believing that the would-be shooter was actually a follower of the democratic rhetoric.
“Their (Biden and Kamala’s) rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am in fact the one who will save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out.” He also added that this is called enemy from within, using quite a familiar trope of totalitarian leaders.
Trump also warned that “dangerous fools” such as the suspect of the incident follow what Democratic leaders declare and also react to the orchestrated attempt by the White House to use any weapons, including the justice system, to persecute him.
Vance said that no one has tried to kill Harris
Trump’s running mate made an even bigger statement. JD Vance said “The huge different between conservatives and liberals is that no one tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, then two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months.”
He also felt the need to add that’s increasing evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this “crap” out. The Republican vice-presidential nominee recently denied the possibility that he might have incited the conflict, especially after his perpetuation of baseless claims that Haitian refugees have been eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, was followed by plenty of bomb threats to hospitals and schools.
Democratic-Republican Nikema Williams condemned Vance’s remarks about assassinations and the main difference between liberals and conservatives. The Georgia Democrat asked if that’s what JD Vance really wants, considering that the Republican nominees talk about bringing down the temperature and changing the rhetoric to bring the country together.
She also emphasized that while they have all the right to disagree on policies, no one should wish for an assassination attempt. Williams also stated that it’s “no secret” that she’s not a Trump supporter, but still doesn’t want anyone to go through a threat like this in their lifetime.
She also added that she’s had to arrange a series of personal security measures since she was invested as a member of the Congress, in order to protect herself and her family after facing a series of threats.
Fierce politics raging over Sunday’s incident
The entire experience of being singled out in two assassination attempts in two months would definitely be a burden to anyone. However, Trump is also facing an election, less than 50 days away, that is seen as a dead heat between him and the vice president, according to the majority of polls.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, declared to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday that anyone who had been targeted for assassination “could be pretty sensitive, and you might be pretty agitated, or worried, so that’s quite understandable.”
But to decide an election by eliminating a candidate for the presidency is straight-up repugnant to anyone who believes in the concept of democracy and the right of voters to choose their leaders.
The exact motives of the suspect, however, are also a bit unclear, even if he was a longtime advocate for doing more to help Ukraine, which is a position that conflicts with Trump’s vow to end the war in Russia.
Moreover, the connection between a politician’s rhetoric and actions taken by isolated individuals is quite hard to pin down, despite the fear of inciting violence a small minority of people actually feel motivated by someone’s comments.
Nevertheless, Trump’s claims that Biden and Harris are the culprits in this scenario is hands-down underscoring the extreme nature of his own political instincts. He basically claimed that their warnings about a so-called threat to democracy could risk getting him killed. In other words, he is stating that is simply illegitimate for his opponents to point out the truth, which is that his past behavior (seeking to steal the 2020 election and spreading misinformation that this year’s voting will be corrupt) would automatically suggest that he poses a danger to America’s democratic system.
His position looks like an attempt to stifle free speech, and it might also be a dark harbinger of how he would behave if he won a second term. Trump also played a very similar political card at last week’s presidential debate, after Harris raised his threat to terminate the Constitution and to weaponize the Justice Department against his political enemies. She also stated that since the Supreme Court and Vance can’t stop Trump if he was back in the Oval Office, “it’s really up to the American people to stop him.”
The vice president was definitely stating this in a political context, but Trump still decided to reply: “I must have taken a bullet to the head because of all the things they say about me.” In spite of all political exchanges, there was one moment that effectively recalled lost political normality on Monday.
Biden and Trump had a serious telephone conversation, in which the president conveyed his full relief that his erstwhile rival was safe. The Republican nominee declared in a statement that “it was a very nice call.”
Republicans claim Democrats are to blame for the incitement
Incitement and inflammatory rhetoric can oftentimes be found in the eye of the beholder. Republicans were definitely angry after hearing Biden’s claim in August 2022 that the philosophical underpinning of the MAGA movement is close to fascism.
Moreover, New York Rep. Daniel Goldman, a Democrat, declared last year in an interview that Trump needs to be “eliminated,” which is a comment that JD Vance didn’t hesitate to bring back now. Naturally, Goldman apologized for the “poor choice of words,” emphasizing that he wishes no harm to Trump.
However, if Democrats are really the ones to blame for going over the top, Trump has made a political brand out of the most outlandish rhetoric uttered by a president or ex-president in the modern history of the United States. The scale and overall intensity of his invective dwarf anything the Democrats ever pointed toward him.
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