Donald Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday night, and the networks tried to be calm. But the opening was messy. The first bumbled headline at CNN.com was “Secret Service Rushes Trump Off Stage After He Falls at Rally.” Other headlines didn't say "shot," just that Trump was rushed off stage after "popping noises."
NBC anchor Lester Holt strangely insisted no one knew the shooter's motive. But wait -- we do know the shooter wanted to kill Trump.
But a spin did emerge. They insisted Republicans can't blame Democrats for inspiring violence based on all their talk of Trump being Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the Covid killer, or any of that rhetoric.
Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan was anchoring for CBS and she was angry at Republicans for blaming Biden for his tone before the shooting. She lectured about anyone "drawing some connection to the government. We have nothing to base that on at this hour." She brought on former Obama adviser Samantha Vinograd, who added "it is frankly unpatriotic at this moment to be stoking the flames when we know we are sitting on a cauldron of tensions."
Brennan also complained that after he was shot, Donald Trump didn't urge his supporters to calm down their commentary. The Washington Post on Sunday underlined no motive was apparent, but carried this headline: "Trump allies immediately blame Biden, Democrats for their rhetoric."
That's quite a flip from what they've done to Republicans in the past. In 2011, for example, the media jumped within minutes to blame right-wing rhetoric when Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot outside a Safeway supermarket in Tucson. Journalists blamed Sarah Palin, since she had issued a pamphlet with districts "targeting" Democrats to defeat. There was an "X" over the Giffords district, but no name.
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