In the immediate aftermath of the second attempt on Donald Trump’s life you would think the media would show some restraint and “lower the temperature” in their attacks on him.
Nope.
An MRC study reported that in the first 72 hours after the shooting, the anti-Trump spin — on the broadcast evening news programs — was 95% negative to just five percent positive.
It wasn’t just ABC, CBS and NBC that were horrible in the first few days after the assassination attempt. CNN and MSNBC also filled their programs with criticism of Trump and Republican “rhetoric.”
The following are just some of the most heinous examples of broadcast and cable hosts, reporters and pundits actually criticizing Trump in the immediate days after the second attempt on the President’s life:
I’m Not Saying It’s Trump’s Fault…But It Is
CNN contributor and presidential historian Tim Naftali: “I remember so well July 13th. And I remember the conversations in the days that followed. I remember President Biden’s speech about toning down the rhetoric, and I saw the rhetoric toned down on both sides and then 20 minutes into his acceptance speech, Donald Trump turned up the volume. I’m not blaming him for what happened, of course.”...
CNN contributor Scott Jennings: “So, you think it’s Trump’s fault that he got shot?”...
Naftali: “That’s not what I said. There is no place in this country for violence. But let’s be honest about why we have so much tension in this country. When you dehumanize people, you are using the rhetoric of the ’30s…..You make it easier for disturbed minds to do the wrong thing.”
— CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, September 16.
There Was Just An Attempt on Trump’s Life, Shouldn’t He Tone Down the Rhetoric?
“We do not know, again, the source of any gunshot or gunshots. We don’t know who is responsible for this. The whole thing has yet to be 100 percent confirmed from start to finish, how this all played out. 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?”
— MSNBC anchor Alex Witt during live coverage of the second assassination attempt on Trump, September 15.
We Should All “Lower the Temperature,” Now Let Me Raise It On “Hitler” Trump
“We should all be trying to lower the temperature….but for Donald Trump and his folks to say — and J.D. Vance — to say that it’s Democrats who are causing this….He’s [Trump] called everyone who works in this building the ‘enemy of the people.’...If Donald Trump wants people, wants Kamala Harris and others to say — to stop saying that he is a threat to democracy, then he should stop threatening democracy. Perhaps he shouldn’t be overturning, trying to overturn elections, overthrow the government and inciting insurrections.”
— Former CNN host Don Lemon on CNN’s Erin Burnett Outfront, September 16.
It’s Good Trump Is Safe But He’s the One That “Inspired Violence”
Co-host Willie Geist: “So thank God Donald Trump is safe. Thank God he was not assassinated in July or this week. But, my gosh, there is no comparison on the rhetoric.”
MSNBC host/Politico White House bureau chief Jonathan Lemire: “Not even close. And to be clear, there’s no place in this country for any sort of political violence. There shouldn’t be any place for political threats of political violence, even. But it is rank hypocrisy and just truly rich to hear from Donald Trump, of all people, suggesting that the other side is responsible for inciting violence….We don’t know what’s in the mind of this suspected suspect who was arrested in Florida. Nor do we know what happened with the individual who….who shot at former President Trump in Pennsylvania back in July. There’s sort of incoherent ideologies for both. But what is clear, and we know this, that Trump has inspired violence.”
— MSNBC’s Morning Joe, September 17.
Blaming Trump’s “Inflammatory Rhetoric”
“You’ll remember after a would-be assassin targeted him in July, Trump briefly called for unity, but after this week’s scare in a new interview overnight, Trump is blaming his political opponents, telling a Washington Post columnist, ‘I really believe that the rhetoric from the Democrats is making the bullets fly.’...Trump is not backing down from inflammatory rhetoric, telling Fox News that President Biden and Harris are ‘people that want to destroy our country. It’s called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,’ he said.”
— Correspondent Peter Alexander on NBC’s Today, September 17.
“The public partisan finger-pointing exploded right out of the gate in the wake of what we saw Sunday with Donald Trump. And as you could see, J.D. Vance was going there, and saying that it’s blaming Democrats for rhetoric that he says is escalating this. But it does seem to me that it is impossible to pull apart what we have seen from Donald Trump, the level of the rhetoric that he has injected into this campaign, and the actual events we have seen in terms of how the levels of violence in our political system have risen in recent years.”
— Host Kasie Hunt on CNN This Morning, September 18, 2024.
Thank You Selina For Doing My Job For Me
ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang: “Donald Trump blamed President Biden and Vice President Harris for the latest assassination attempt against him. He claimed, without evidence, that their rhetoric is causing them to be quote ‘shot at.’ How is the White House responding to those comments?”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre: “Well, I love that you added ‘without evidence.’”
— White House press briefing, September 18.
Trump Is the “Inspiration” and “Target” of “Political Violence”
“And so it goes in 2024. In the space of less than a week, the once and possibly future commander in chief was both a seeming inspiration and an apparent target of the political violence that has increasingly come to shape American politics in the modern era. Bomb threats and attempted assassinations now have become part of the landscape, shocking and horrific, yet not so much that they have forced any real national reckoning.”
— Correspondent Peter Baker in a September 17 front page New York Times story headlined: “The Anger That Defines And Threatens Trump Outrage Dominates Political Landscape.”
The View: Trump and Vance Have Got to Watch What Comes Out of Their Mouths!
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg: “J.D., clearly you’ve not been to one of your boss’s rallies, because you believe this insanity….He has been inciting violence since 2016 telling them to beat up hecklers, threaten to shoot looters and migrants….You have to really take a look in a mirror to see the reflection….Quit blaming folks until you decide to take a look at what’s coming out of your mouth!”...
Co-host Joy Behar: “The political violence is a prelude to fascism. That happens in every country….It’s time for [Ted] Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Johnson, and Mitch McConnell to step up and be men. Robert de Niro was on television the other day….He said the mob has a code of ethics. These people do not even have that!...These people need to step up. They have the power to do something.”...
Goldberg: “Let’s stop this both-sides stuff because it's not correct! It is not both sides! It is one clear side!...You have to pull it back! This is not us or them! This is you got to stop doing what you’re doing, J.D.! And what you’re doing Mr. T.!”
— ABC’s The View, September 17.
