Following the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, mainstream media pundits and left wing activists are shirking reflection of their own rhetoric and how it may have contributed to the circumstances, and instead have pivoted to blaming Trump.
Just hours after the shooting at his West Palm Beach golf club, MSNBC host Alex Witt asked her guest, “But do you expect to hear anything from the Trump campaign about toning down the rhetoric? Toning down the violence? Or would that be atypical of the former president?”
Political analyst Elise Jordan seemed to think that the responsibility didn't fall on one political party, and insisted that both sides of the aisle needed to reexamine the way they spoke of their ideological opponents.
“How have we gotten to this point when the demonization of the other side…it is no longer politics. It has gotten bigger than that, the calls for violence, the violent rhetoric and look at what happens. This heated rhetoric can only go so far before, unfortunately, it has led to violence on both sides of the aisle. So I think it is something that Democrats and Republicans have to be very cognizant about. What can we all do to take the temperature down?”
In another MSNBC segment, host Nicolle Wallace pointed to the comments Trump and Vance have made about Springfield, Ohio as fueling the fire.
“We were talking about a community in Ohio, where the children, two elementary schools and middle schools were closed because of bomb threats, where a bunch of older students, college-aged students were learning virtually because the folks that ran those institutions didn't feel like they could secure them after this racist smear about Haitian Americans eating cats and dogs.”
Readers should note that Ohio's governor has revealed that every one of the 33 bomb threats reported turned out to be hoaxes, and a great deal of them were called in by foreign countries. None of them have been proven to come from Trump supporters or American citizens.
Wallace continued.
“Unrepentant and unapologetic is the best way to describe Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, about the language that led to that threat environment. Do you have any reporting that suggests any recalibrating about their own rhetoric towards vulnerable communities in this country?”
She went on to assert that “the connection between the language and the guns and the action is undeniable.”
The Daily Caller reports:
Rachel Vindman, the wife of former National Security Council member and outspoken Trump critic Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), tweeted a series of posts downplaying the attempt and blaming Trump.
She tweeted, “Trump has been inciting violence against his enemies for years. He douses a situation in gasoline, lights a match, & walks away claiming no responsibility,” but later deleted it.
“Here comes the ‘Democrats need to tone down the rhetoric' talking points. They are sending bomb and shooting threats to innocent people in Springfield, OH and MAGA doubles down. Spare me the bullshit. We are all happy to see Trump lose the election and go to jail when he is finally sentenced,” Wellman tweeted.
“Look violent rhetoric is wrong, and has no place. But MAGA pretending they didn't light this fire is gaslighting to the 100th power. Since Trump showed up our politics has gone to crap. Literally just accused a group of people of eating our pets,” he tweeted Sunday night.
“The object in this case is Donald Trump, his demagoguery, his danger to our country,” failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Rachel Maddow on Monday. She also called Trump a dictator and said he can't be given another chance “to do harm to our country and the world.”
Following the second attempt on President Trump's life, his campaign shared a long list of examples of Democrats characterizing him and his supporters as an “existential threat” that “had to be stopped” if America was to survive.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Who is Wellman mentioned in this article as posting a tweet? I have no idea who he/she is. Can you please clarify?