Trump Campaign: ‘They Are Literally Trying To Kill the Guy’

The last presidential debate was not even halfway over when Donald Trump accused his opponent of a careless kind of rhetoric that nearly got him killed:

I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me.

ABC ignored the first Trump assassination attempt

Kamala Harris did not respond because ABC News moderator David Muir quickly moved on. “We have a lot to get to,” the anchorman said, teeing up his colleague, Linsey Davis, who then asked the vice president why so many of her policy positions have changed.

In this way, an attempt on the life of the presidential candidate, something not seen for decades in the United States, was largely ignored. Five days later, a second apparent assassination attempt was foiled when the Secret Service confronted a gunman outside Trump’s Florida golf course. Now, less than 50 days before the election, Trump is again laying the blame at the feet of Democrats, eager to keep the public, the press, and his opponent from turning the page again on the latest episode in modern political violence.

It is at risk of becoming mundane.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country,” he told Brooke Singman of Fox News Monday before doubling down on social media. “Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric,” he wrote, referring to statements made by Harris, “the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”

The Springfield riddle

As the FBI investigates a second attempt on Trump’s life, the bureau is also investigating bomb threats against schools and city buildings in Springfield, Ohio, after Republicans spread unverified rumors about Haitian migrants poaching wildlife and eating pets. A spokesman for the city cautioned, however, that the threats had “not been substantiated” and could be “indicative of ‘swatting.’”

Trump sidestepped possible escalation by his supporters when asked about the uptick in bomb threats. “I don’t know what happened with the bomb threats,” he told reporters on Saturday while campaigning in Las Vegas. “I know that it’s been taken over by illegal migrants, and that’s a terrible thing that happened.”

The second assassination attempt could rock the election in the meantime. It has already rattled the Trump campaign. One campaign official told RealClearPolitics that the foiled attack in Florida “shows that Butler, Pennsylvania was not a one-off. They are literally trying to kill the guy.”

The Trump campaign kept their surrogates off the airwaves for the first 24 hours after the foiled attack for fear, according to a knowledgeable source, of “making this a political football.” Before the day was over, however, the Republican National Committee blasted out a press release flagging a list of “dangerous rhetoric” from Democrats that “inspired another attempt on President Trump’s life.”

From rhetoric to violent acts

Harris was quick to condemn “political violence” and what she described in a statement on Sunday as a “possible assassination attempt,” saying that she was “deeply disturbed” by the incident. President Biden issued a similar statement and reached out by phone to Trump like he had in July when an assassin’s bullet grazed the ear of the former president. The first call was unsuccessful. The two men connected after a second try and, according to the White House, shared “a cordial conversation.”

Republicans renewed their argument about overheated political rhetoric leading to real violence. After the first assassination attempt, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance drew a direct line from arguments made by the left to the rifle barrel of the Pennsylvania gunman.

“Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance said in July. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” He later accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination.

The rhetoric hasn’t come anywhere close to cooling. Both campaigns were describing the other as existential threats even before the summer started. After the June 27 Atlanta debate, when he was still a candidate, Biden told a North Carolina crowd that “Trump is a genuine threat to this nation.” He later warned that the former president “really could become a dictator” and insisted that “this is the most dangerous election in American history.”

Calling Trump a threat to “democracy” and liberty

Harris has also argued that Trump is a “threat to our democracy and fundamental freedoms.” Since becoming the nominee, however, she has left behind much of that boilerplate that Biden favored, opting to speak more simply and fundamentally about freedom. She still painted Trump as a threat during the Philadelphia debate, telling the former president, who often brags about his relationships with foreign adversaries, “You adore strongmen instead of caring about democracy.”

The motive of the gunman who fired at Trump in Pennsylvania remains unclear. When Melania Trump asked, in a video promoting her new memoir, why law enforcement had not arrested the shooter before the rally in July, the New York Times reported that the former first lady “muses conspiratorially about the attempt on her husband’s life.” The failed assassin had been spotted before the shooting with a rangefinder by law enforcement.

Ryan Routh, the suspect in Sunday’s aborted ambush, had a much more active social media presence and perhaps a clearer motive than the dead Pennsylvania gunman. Routh had traveled to Ukraine, seeking to join a legion of foreign nationals fighting against Russia, and he spoke with at least two national media outlets, the New York Times and Semafor, about how the conflict was one of “good vs. evil.”

The would-be assassin blames himself – sort of

In a self-published book, Routh wrote that he regretted voting for Trump in 2016. “I must take part of the blame for the retarded child we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless, but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake, and Iran I apologize,” he wrote after bemoaning how Trump abandoned a nuclear deal with that nation.

He added, “You are free to assassinate Trump as well as me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the deal.” He remains in custody and is awaiting formal charges to be filed.

Republicans were quick to condemn the snarky and highly insensitive rhetoric from Democrats. There was plenty to choose from on social media. “No ears were harmed,” Rachel Vindman, the wife of whistle-blower Alexander Vindman, posted on X after the news of the second assassination attempt broke. “Carry on with your Sunday afternoon.” She later deleted the post.

Is anyone trying to assassinate a Democrat?

Democrats cited examples of irresponsible rhetoric from the other side. Elon Musk posted in the aftermath of the assassination attempt that it was curious “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.” The billionaire and Trump booster later deleted the post, insisting that it was a joke.

“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to ABC News.

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The election is in 49 days.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.