Trump’s Republican allies painted him as a hero on Saturday, seizing pictures of him with bloodied ears and raised fists, appearing to chant “War! War! War!” While Trump regularly uses harsh language with his followers, advisers and allies of the former president flipped the script on the Democratic opponent of President Joe Biden, saying it is the demonization of the Republican presidential candidate that led to the assassination attempt.
“Today is not just a few isolated incidents. The main premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. His rhetoric directly led to the assassination attempt on President Trump,” said US Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the top candidate for the pair. candidate Trump, said in X.
Biden quickly tried to downplay the situation, blaming the attack as unacceptable political violence and pulling an election ad attacking Trump.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” Biden told reporters.
The shooter’s motivation is not yet known. The suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, is a registered Republican, according to state voter records. He previously made a $15 donation to a political action committee that raises money for left-wing politicians and Democrats. In the short term, the attack will add to Trump’s appearance in Milwaukee this week at the Republican National Convention when he accepts the party’s presidential nomination, reinforcing the sense of grievance and estrangement his supporters already feel against the nation’s political class. Within hours of the shooting, the Trump campaign sent a text asking voters to contribute to the campaign. “They’re not following me, they’re following you,” the message read.
Billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman were also quick to endorse Trump. “I endorse President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery,” Musk said on X, the social media site he owns.
Chris LaCivita, co-manager of the Trump campaign, said in X that “for years and even now, left-wing activists, Democratic donors and now even Joe Biden have made disgusting comments and descriptions about taking Donald Trump … responsible for it’s … the best way is through the ballot box.”
LaCivita was apparently referring to recent comments Biden made in the context of asking his supporters to focus on defeating Trump rather than his own performance. “So we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” said Biden, who has always condemned political violence.
POLITICAL ATTACKS
The US is grappling with the largest and most sustained increase in political violence since the 1970s. Of the 14 fatal political attacks since Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, where the perpetrators or suspects had clear partisan leanings, 13 were right-wing assailants. One is on the left.
Despite being a former president, Trump has campaigned as an outsider rebel, complaining that he has long been targeted by the federal “deep state” and the Biden administration to prevent him from regaining power. He usually uses harsh, derogatory and even apocalyptic rhetoric when doing so, warning of “bloodshed” if he is not elected and saying that immigrants in the United States illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country”.
Some Republicans have been distracted by continuing to stoke the flames.
“If the state isn’t a powder keg, it is now,” said Chip Felkel, a Republican operative in South Carolina who opposes Trump.
Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, said the shooting could benefit Trump politically because it fed his campaign narrative that the country was off track.
“Assassination attempts create sympathy for Trump,” Bannon said. “It also reinforces the idea to voters that something is wrong in this country, which is an idea that drives support for them.”
Trump in May was found guilty of participating in a scheme to cover up a relationship with a porn star, a conviction that could not change the race and suggested that supporters of both sides should remain in office.
Biden has settled a debate within his own party over whether he should withdraw as the Democratic nominee amid concerns that he is unfit for the job. He said the doctors had said he was fine. Trump benefited in some polls from Biden’s debate performance last month, but others pointed to the race.
Many voters have been alienated by Biden and Trump. The chaos surrounding the candidates can leave voters feeling that the country’s problems are insurmountable and that the divide between parties cannot be bridged.
US Representative Steve Scalise, a Republican who was shot by a gunman in 2017, told Fox News that the violent election rhetoric needs to stop.
“All it takes is one person who doesn’t know anything and goes out and takes action and thinks that’s a signal to shoot someone else,” he said.
