Former President Donald Trump spoke out bluntly on Monday about the second assassination attempt on his life. In an exclusive report by Fox News Digital, he blamed Democratic rhetoric for inspiring the assassin to attempt his life.
The former president spoke with Fox News Digital the morning after police arrested the suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris and acted on it,” Trump said of the shooter in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is getting me shot when I’m the one who’s going to save the country and they’re the ones destroying the country — both from within and without.”
Trump referred to previous comments by Biden and Harris in which they portrayed Trump as a “threat to democracy” while telling Americans that they were “leaders of unity.”
“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people who want to destroy our country.”
He added: “It is called the enemy from within. It is the real threat.”
The former president went on to say that Democrats are inciting violence “with a combination of rhetoric and complaints” and that “those are the things that dangerous idiots like the shooter listen to – that’s the rhetoric they listen to, and the same goes for the first [assassination attempt].”
Trump was not satisfied with that. On Monday, he turned to X and criticized left-wing supporters for their assassination attempts and announced that they would call for even more violence.
The rhetoric, the lies, as exemplified by comrade Kamala Harris’ false statements during the rigged and highly partisan ABC debate, and all the ridiculous court proceedings specifically designed to harm Joe and then Kamala’s political opponent, that is, ME, have taken place…
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 16 September 2024
The rhetoric, the lies as evidenced by Comrade Kamala Harris’ false statements during the rigged and highly partisan ABC debate, and all the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to harm Joe and then Kamala’s political opponent, ME, have elevated politics in our country to a whole fresh level of hate, abuse and distrust. Bullets are flying because of this communist left wing rhetoric, and it will only get worse!
Nevertheless, Democrats responded to the recent attack on Trump by trying to blame him for the shooter’s actions.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) blamed MAGA for inflaming the American political climate in a post on X, alleging that illegal Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s pets.
You see, violent rhetoric is wrong and has no place here.
But MAGA pretending they didn’t start that fire is gaslighting to the max. Since Trump came along, our politics have gone down the drain.
I literally just accused a group of people of eating our pets.
So stop
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) 16 September 2024
The second assassination attempt has reignited debates about divisive and inflammatory rhetoric and how it can motivate criminals to commit acts of violence. While many Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have condemned the alleged assassin’s actions, left-wing media figures have adopted a “blame Trump” strategy.
Related: WATCH: For 2 1/2 minutes, left-wing politicians and media continuously call for violence and unrest
Adam Kinzinger, Vindmans and MSNBC react insanely to the second Trump assassination attempt
But we know how these people would react if someone attempted to violently attack a Democratic politician. In such a scenario, they would never think to blame the victim in this way. Instead, they would pretend that the incident was motivated by Republicans and the “Orange Man What Is Bad™.”
Essentially, members of the left-wing chattering class want it both ways. If there is violence against Democrats, it is the Republicans’ fault. If there is violence against Republicans, it is the Republicans’ fault. Hopefully the electorate does not fall for this particular tactic.
