Donald Trump claimed Monday, without evidence, that comments by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that he poses a threat to democracy had inspired what appears to be the latest attempt on his life, even though the Republican has a long history of incendiary speeches and advocating the jailing or prosecution of political opponents.
With just 50 days until the election and early ballots already mailed out in some places, this year’s presidential campaign had been one of the most turbulent in U.S. history even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Trump. The former president was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him, but did not hold back from lashing out at his rivals.
“Their rhetoric is getting me shot, when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones destroying the country, inside and out,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital.
The Republican’s remarks are a far cry from his reaction after an assassination attempt on his life in July during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear.
At the time, Trump called for national unity, saying on social media that “it is more important than ever to stay united.” Days later, however, the former president resumed his usual comments in which he strongly criticizes Democrats.
While authorities are still investigating the motives of both the Pennsylvania attacker and the person arrested Sunday in Florida, Trump has made clear that he perceives the attempts on his life to be politically motivated, and blames his rivals for it.
This is despite the fact that Trump himself has been repeatedly criticized for his rhetoric. He has talked about prosecuting his political opponents and has claimed, without presenting evidence, that Democrats have brought criminal cases against him for political reasons.
In a post on his social media account, Trump again claimed Monday that he had been the target of politically motivated attacks, writing that the left “has taken the politics of this country to a new level of hate, abuse and distrust.” He added that “it’s only going to get worse” and then veered into comments on immigration, despite there being no evidence that the person detained in connection with his apparent attempted murder is an immigrant.
This comes after the former president participated in a debate last week and days after spreading false rumors that Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating the pets of an Ohio community. Days later, the town of Springfield evacuated schools and government buildings after receiving bomb threats, adding to the sense of a particularly tense and unstable moment in the country even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt.
Biden, by contrast, has tried to keep the situation out of the political realm. He condemned the apparent assassination attempt and said Monday that the United States must do something to stem the scourge of political violence.
“America has suffered the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet too many times,” Biden said at the start of a speech at the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It only divides our country. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
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