Some corporate and liberal media outlets claimed Sunday that former President Donald Trump contributed to “violent rhetoric” that encouraged the assassination attempt on his life.
The FBI on Sunday morning identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the suspect who shot Trump at a rally on Saturday in Butler County, Pennsylvania, killing former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore and severely wounding two others. News outlets have argued that some of Trump's comments about his political career, such as his use of the phrase “bloody disaster,” prompted Saturday's assassination attempt.
ABC News presenters George Stephanopoulos and Martha Raddatz argued that Trump's past rhetoric, particularly his use of the words “chaos” and “bloodshed,” has fueled “violent rhetoric” in the US and inspired the assassination attempt. (Related: Liberal media gets initial headline wrong, downplays Trump assassination attempt)
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“President Trump and his supporters are also complicit in this violent rhetoric,” Stephanopoulos argued during Sunday's “This Week” broadcast.
“George, that's true. I was just looking back this morning at comments made by former President Trump. Last March, he warned of death and destruction if indicted by the Manhattan district attorney: 'Our country is being destroyed because we're telling you to be peaceful,'” Raddatz responded. “In January, Trump warned of chaos across the country if the criminal charges against him were allowed. And then, of course, in March, he said, 'If I don't get elected, the whole country will be a catastrophe. And that's just a small part of it. The whole country will be a catastrophe. And that's just a small part of it.' Trump said that was partly a joke and that he was quoted out of context, but certainly those are his words.”
Trump claims his “massacre” comments in March were referring to the auto industry jobs he claims will be lost if he doesn't win the next election. Legal arguments The comments were made at the appeals court in regards to Trump's claim of immunity in the lawsuit filed by special counsel Jack Smith on Jan. 6, while Trump's lawyers have also used the term in a lawsuit centered on their attempt to use the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to disqualify Trump from the election.
The Atlantic's David Frum also condemned Trump, claiming the former president incited the violence. article Posted on Sunday.
“The bloodshed that Trump has incited against others has now hit Trump himself,” Frum wrote. “The attempted assassination of Trump, and the murder of someone close to him, are horrifying and outrageous.”
The day after Trump's near assassination, The Atlantic magazine called him a bloodthirsty fascist dictator.
“The bloodshed that Trump has incited in others is now influencing himself.”
“He conquered and colonized one of the two major parties.” pic.twitter.com/7XzJVuLPkV
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) July 14, 2024
“It is sadly false, as many say, that political violence has 'no place' in American society,” Frum added. “Assassinations, lynchings, riots and massacres have stained every page of American political history, and continue to do so to this day.” (RELATED: 'I've been shot': President Trump issues statement after being evacuated from rally stage)
Frum argued that Trump supporters brought weapons to “intimidate opponents” in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Survived June 2016 Assassination attempt During a rally in Las Vegas, a 20-year-old man grabbed a police officer's gun and tried to shoot the then-leading Republican candidate.
In New York” magazineColumnist Jonathan Chait also seems to blame Trump's rhetoric for leading to the erosion of the norm of non-violence in American politics.
“While the responsibility for maintaining society's peace and nonviolent norms is shared equally across the political spectrum, the responsibility for their breakdown is not equally shared,” Chait wrote. “Trump incites and feeds on the desire for violence. He has the demagogue's skill to manipulate the basest emotions of his supporters. As a private citizen, he used the rape of a white woman in Central Park to call for the execution of an innocent young man of color.”
Similar sentiments were expressed in The New Yorker, with author David Remnick stating: Assert Trump stirred up the “lowest passions” of his supporters.
“Mr. Trump has, to say the least, done little to calm or unite the country he once led and now campaigns to lead again,” Remnick wrote. “Sadly, I can think of no public figure in living memory who has done more to stir the lowest emotions that so frequently well up in individuals and across society. While I am deeply relieved that Mr. Trump avoided a worse fate on Saturday (and I sympathize with the family of the rally attendees killed), it is fair to say what Mr. Trump and his rhetoric meant to this country.”
“He has repeatedly glorified brutality, whether it be the desirability of police tossing 'thugs' into the backs of squad cars or a congressional candidate body-slamming a reporter who asked him a question about health care policy,” Remnick added.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan lamented calls for him to refrain from speaking out in the wake of the assassination attempt.
“No Democrat/liberal party can match the relentless incitement of violence by Trump, MTG, Gaetz, Gosar, Kali Lake et al,” Hasan asserted in a statement Saturday. post“The next few days of 'both sides' nonsense will kill me.”
Hasan also accused Trump of inciting violence. piece On his news site, Zeteo.
“Remember on January 6, 2021, when a mob incited by President Trump stormed the Capitol, leaving several dead, including police officers?” Hasan asked. “Is President Trump 'bloodied'? Are we really going to continue playing this (political) game?”
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