Politically charged rhetoric in spotlight after failed Trump assassination attempt

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As President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Sunday night, saying “it’s time to cool it down” when it comes to political rhetoric, some members of the media insinuated former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric contributed to a hostile environment leading up to Saturday’s assassination attempt. Many of Trump’s supporters blamed Democrats and members of the mainstream media.

On ABC This Week, when George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz discussed “the underlying division in this country,” they appeared to imply that Trump and his supporters were responsible for the hostile political environment in America.

Raddatz said division in the country would “probably continue” because Trump raised his right hand and encouraged his supporters to “fight” as “his first instinct” when he survived being shot. Since 2016, several in the media have suggested that Trump raising his right hand is similar to the Nazi hand salute, a claim Trump has said is “ridiculous.”

Raddatz said Trump supporters who’ve blamed President Joe Biden for the attack have done so “with no evidence that he incited this or had anything to do with this assassination attempt.”

The day before, Biden said at a campaign event in Michigan, “America needs to wake up and realize what Trump and MAGA Republicans are trying to do. We’re going to stop them. … I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Trump is a threat to this nation.”

He also posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Americans want a president, not a dictator” and “Trump has said that if he wins, he’ll be a dictator on day one.” Trump has made no such claim.

On July 8, Biden told donors “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” Politico, the New York Times and other news outlets reported.

Others have posted screenshots of comments Biden posted on X, including on June 28 that “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He is a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for.”

On Dec. 20, 2023, he posted, “Trump poses many threats to our country: the right to choose, civil rights, voting rights, and America standing in the world,” a claim he again made in Michigan. “But the greatest threat he poses is to our democracy. If we lose that we lose everything.” A Sept. 1, 2022, post states, “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are a threat to the very soul of this country.”

In numerous remarks and posts, Biden has referred to Trump as a dictator. Posting screenshots of them, Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, said, “Don’t tell me they didn’t know exactly what they were doing with this crap. Calling my dad a ‘dictator’ and a ‘threat to Democracy’ wasn’t some one-off comment. It has been the *MAIN MESSAGE* of the Biden-Kamala campaign and Democrats across the country!!!”

Trump’s allies have said Biden’s and Democrat’s rhetoric against Trump contributed to the assassination attempt, The Center Square reported.

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, argued it was “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. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

ABC News’ Raddatz said, “There is no evidence of that. We do not know the motive of that shooter at this point.” The shooter was killed by law enforcement on Saturday.

She also said, “We have to point out, no matter … what the shooter’s motives were, no matter who the shooter is, you are going to hear conspiracy theories going forward.”

In response, Stephanopoulos said, “President Trump and his supporters have contributed to this violent rhetoric as well.” She replied, “absolutely,” and proceeded to list statements she claims he made that appear to incite violence.

Hollywood actor James Woods posted a compilation of news headlines and caricatures of Trump to show apparent media bias. Several depict Trump as an American Hitler, including The New Republic (“American fascism, what it would look like”) and the Washington Post (“Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler”). Others depict Trump as a dictator (The New Yorker), Dr. Evil (New York Daily News), decapitating the Statue of Liberty and wearing a Ku Klux Klan white hood as “the true face of Donald Trump” (Der Spiegel), and superimposing his face on a grenade as “the threat to world trade” (The Economist).

A top political advisor to a Democratic mega-donor emailed reporters stating “one possibility” about the shooting was that “it was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get the photos and benefit from the backlash,” comparing it to “a classic Russian tactic,” Semafor, which received the email, reported.

A video recording from Saturday shows multiple attendees of the Pennsylvania rally blaming members of the media for the assassination attempt, screaming, “This is your fault. You, you, you and you, this is your fault. Every last one of you. This is your fault.”