Donald Trump is repeatedly attempting to blame President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what is being investigated as a second assassination attempt, allegedly by a suspect who yet again is another GOP voter. Trump claimed, “Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying,” despite no shots being fired at him during the second alleged assassination attempt.
Local law enforcement on Sunday arrested a 2016 Trump voter who reportedly supported former Trump UN Ambassador Nikki Haley for president and far-right entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for vice president in this year’s election cycle, calling it a “winning ticket now that we can all get behind,” according to The Daily Beast.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, who has now been charged with federal gun crimes, had been hanging around the ex-president’s Florida golf course for about 12 hours before the U.S. Secret Service confronted and ultimately shot at him, the Associated Press reports. The FBI is investigating the incident as an attempted assassination.
“Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, faces charges of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and Justice Department prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury,” according to the AP.
CNN reports Routh, 58, “once supported but then dismissed [Trump] as an ‘idiot,’ a ‘buffoon’ and a ‘fool.’”
“For years, he criticized not only Trump but himself, describing Trump as ‘my choice’ in the 2016 presidential election but later writing that he is ‘man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake.’”
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The shooter who allegedly attempted to assassinate Trump in July was a registered Republican, according to multiple news sites including USA Today.
On Monday Trump spoke with Fox News about Routh, who reportedly had an AK-47 with him while being 300 to 500 yards away from Trump.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
“They use highly inflammatory language,” Trump claimed. “I can use it too — far better than they can — but I don’t.”
Most recently, Trump has called for the “remigration” of immigrants in America, including those in the country legally. That came after he attacked legal immigrants living and working in Springfield, Ohio, as did his vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance, of Ohio. On Sunday Vance admitted he and Trump “create stories” to advance their agenda.
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Former Obama State Dept. official Richard Stengel, who also served as the chief executive of the National Constitution Center and was once TIME magazine’s managing editor, shared his thoughts on Trump’s remarks:
“1. There is no place for political violence in America. 2. Trump says the words of Harris supporters are responsible for the violence. 3. The truth is that Trump’s own words—his anti-immigrant rhetoric, his racist taunts, his long-time encouragement of rough treatment for his foes—helps create a climate where violence occurs. 4. He remains a threat to democracy and not saying that is itself a threat to democracy. 5. I pray there are no more violent threats on Trump or any other candidate.”
Trump followed up his comments to Fox News with a post on the social media website X, and used the opportunity to once again extend his attacks on immigrants.
“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!” he wrote early Monday afternoon, before using the post to attack immigrants, which he has done almost if not daily since last week’s debate.
“Allowing millions of people, from places unknown, to INVADE and take over our Country, is an unpardonable sin,” Trump said, before launching into an all-caps diatribe demanding “terrorists, criminals, and mentally insane, immediately removed from american cities and towns, deported back to their counties of origin.”
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