Are the Democrats really inciting violence against Donald Trump?
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Donald Trump says Kamala Harris’ “communist lies” and “left rhetoric” are to blame for the second attempt made on his life. But is he right to accuse the Democrats when he is known to use incendiary language himself?
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Read time: 4 minutes
In brief…
- Donald Trump has spoken publicly after another assassination attempt on him was made, blaming Kamala Harris and the Democrats for inciting political violence.
- His running mate, JD Vance, doubled-down on this claim.
- The News Agents say Team Trump are using this attack line to “seize the news agenda”.
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What’s the story?
After a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump on Monday, the former President and Republican candidate has responded by placing blame for the attack on his opponent Kamala Harris.
He posted on his social network, Truth Social, saying:
“The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust. Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse! “
In the aftermath of the second attempt, in which no shots were fired by the would-be assassin, President Joe Biden called Trump to offer support.
“He was very nice today, he called up to make sure I was OK,” Trump said of the call.
After some rare kind words about the current President he, unsurprisingly, also used the opportunity to reiterate his large crowd sizes.
“To make sure, [and ask] do I have any suggestions. We do need more people on my detail, because we have 50,000, 60,000 people showing up to events, and, you know, other people don’t have that, but he couldn’t have been nicer.”
But the good will ended there. Trump continued with the narrative of blame on Harris and the Democrats for the violence he has faced, saying “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at.”The response has led The News Agents to wonder, "Who is upping the rhetoric, and is it feeding into the violence?" as Emily asks on today’s episode.
What has JD Vance said?
Trump’s running mate has appeared to back the claim that Team Harris is to blame for increasing levels of political violence.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the second assassination attempt, he said: “I do think that we should take this opportunity to call for a reduction in the ridiculous and inflammatory political rhetoric coming from too many corners of our politics.
“We can disagree with one another. We can debate one another. But we cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist, and if he's elected, it is going to be the end of American democracy.”
“A person affiliated with Kamala Harris has said that we need to, quote, eliminate Donald J Trump.”
Vance was referring to a comment made by Rep. Daniel Goldman, a Democratic Congressman from New York. Goldman later apologised for the statement, saying that he “used the wrong word”.
But despite this, Vance appeared to double down on Trump’s line of attack.
He continued: “If you tell the American people that this person is the end of democracy, if you tell the American people that this person needs to be eliminated, most of them, thank God, are going to ignore you.
“But some crazy person is going to take matters into their own hands and actually listen to the crazy rhetoric that you're putting out there.”
JD Vance gives first remarks since Trump assassination attempt | LiveNOW from FOX
The News Agents' take
"The Trump campaign is going full steam ahead in blaming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their rhetoric for all that is happening”, Jon points out.
He argues this could be a deliberate strategy - capitalising on an opportunity to claw back some of the things that have damaged his campaign. Namely, Joe Biden pulling out of the presidential race and his TV debate against Harris.
Jon says: “It looks like the campaign has very deliberately thought, ‘right this assassination attempt, we are going to blame it all on Kamala Harris and Joe Biden and make this the issue now going forward, and that is the way we seize the news agenda.”
But Emily says that the real question is “does the political rhetoric, the language of violence” have any bearing on these individuals” who attempt to carry out politically motivated attacks, particularly in a country where there are “many, many guns and many, many mental health problems”.
Jon argues that rather than certain political language inciting violence, it is more of a “societal problem”.
He says: “There is no way that you can pin this on Kamala Harris or Joe Biden any more than you could pin it on Donald Trump for some of the language that he has used.”
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