[Baltimore Sun] Political tensions soar after second Trump assassination attempt
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Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans are casting blame for two assassination attempts against him on the rhetoric Democrats have been using, while employing his own strong language to describe his opponents in the upcoming November election.
Law enforcement officials have not yet stated what the motivation behind either of the attempts on Trump’s life was, but the former president has been quick to point to “inflammatory language” from Democrats, despite his own history of being criticized for inflaming political tensions.
Trump already suggested the way Democrats speak about him led to him being shot at during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the debate against Harris. He has continued to blame Democratic rhetoric in the days after the foiled assassination attempt in Florida.
Trump’s reaction to Sunday’s incident is vastly different from the aftermath of the Butler shooting, where he called on the country to stand united.
He has taken particular issue with Democrats calling him a threat to democracy, which was a more central feature in President Joe Biden’s campaign prior to dropping out of the race. It has receded from the spotlight since Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee, but is still sometimes mentioned.
“No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months,” Vance said on Monday in Georgia. “I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric, and needs to cut this crap out.”
Quips about Trump being a threat to democracy are generally made in reference to his actions around the 2020 election, when he falsely claimed it was rigged against him with fraud and stolen, and his actions on Jan. 6, when he told the crowd to “fight like hell.”
Calming the country’s political temperature has been a concern after the events following the 2020 election, heading into this year’s cycle as the partisan divide grew more stark and tensions continued to mount. Multiple high-profile lawmakers and officials have issued warnings about a dangerous time in American politics as pressure continues to mount leading to Election Day in a race that will likely be decided by tight margins.
“People have crossed lines that I didn’t think they would cross in terms of their rhetoric and how they speak about others, and that really began with Trump,” said David Cohen, a political science professor and director of the University of Akron’s Applied Politics program. “2020 seems tame in comparison to 2024.”
Trump has also called Biden and Harris threats to democracy and accused the White House of coordinating the criminal cases against him to hurt him politically, despite two of them being taken up outside of the Department of Justice’s control. He and Vance have also continued to bring up unsubstantiated claims about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, despite a series of threats to schools and government buildings — and pushback from local leaders.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue has repeatedly said the repeating of the unsubstantiated claims has not been helpful in soothing the tensions the town has been dragged into.
“Any political leader that takes the national stage and has the national spotlight needs to understand the gravity of the words that they have for cities like ours, and what they say impacts our city,” Rue told Politico. “We’ve had bomb threats the last two days. We’ve had personal threats the last two days, and it’s increasing, because the national stage is swirling this up.”
After both attempts on Trump’s life, President Joe Biden has spoken forcefully against political violence and talked to the former president by phone to wish him well and express relief for his safety.
“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said on Monday in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
Harris has also condemned political violence and tried to avoid further inflaming tensions.
“As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence,” Harris said in a statement. “We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”
Campaigning from both sides came to a brief halt after the first incident, but has continued after the foiled attempt in Florida. Both campaigns are already back on the trail and have resumed their messaging strategy, with Election Day just seven weeks away and yet another unprecedented event in modern American politics adding a new variable to the race.
It is too soon to tell what effect a second failed assassination attempt might have on the race, but it has added another difficult issue for both campaigns to navigate. Harris is also facing the additional challenge of holding the office of vice president while campaigning to keep Trump out of the White House.
“She has a much more optimistic view of campaigning,” Cohen said. “The campaign has stressed this new optimism and positivity, whereas Biden was definitely much more focused on the threat that Donald Trump poses to democracy.”
Content from The National Desk is provided by Sinclair, the parent company of FOX45 News.
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