Biden and Harris 'Walking Tightrope' Over Attacks on Trump In Wake of Second 'Assassination' Attempt on Ex-President: 'He’s Now A Victim'
Sept. 17 2024, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been accused of walking a tightrope with rhetoric about Donald Trump following a second assassination attempt.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the nation's top Democratic leaders have been called out over "attacks" on the ex-president, which conservative supporters have claimed fueled political violence against Trump, 78.
Criticism comes after Secret Service members sprang into action on Sunday when they spotted suspect Ryan Wesley Routh's rifle peeking through the tree line at Trump International Golf Club in Florida, where the Republican nominee was playing a round just a few hundred yard away.
On Monday, Trump told Fox News Digital Biden, 81, and Harris, 59, "rhetoric is causing me to be shot at".
He added: "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."
The same day, he released a list of quotes from the Democrat leaders which he branded as "incendiary" language directly related to the thwarted assassination attempt on his life.
Among the quotes on Trump's list included one from the vice president, saying: "Trump is a threat to our democracy and fundamental freedoms."
The language was similar to online statements made by Routh, who wrote "Democracy is on the ballot" and "we cannot lose" in X posts.
As the ex-president points to alleged inflammatory statements from Harris and Biden, one political commentator claimed the Democratic ticket has now poised Trump to paint himself a victim by their own words.
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George Chidi said: "Though Democrats want to place the threat of a repeat of political violence such as the January 6 attacks at the center of their political argument, Trump can adopt the language of victimhood, because he is a victim in this case – the target of a second apparent assassination attempt in less than two months.
"Democrats face a dilemma about how to effectively campaign against a candidate who has been the target of violence and who continues to claim that the other side's rhetoric is inciting that violence."
At the National HBCU Conference in Philadelphia on Monday, Biden said: "No place for political violence in America – none. Zero.
"In America, we resolve our difference peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun."
He added violence "solves nothing" and "tears the country apart".
Meanwhile, Harris revealed to a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists that she personally called Trump on Tuesday and expressed to him "that she is grateful he is safe".
She added: "I checked on to see if he was okay. And, I told him what I have said publicly – there’s no place for political violence in our country. I am in this election and this race for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy and in a democracy, there is no place for political violence."
While both Biden and Harris issued statements condemning political violence in the wake of the second attempted assassination of Trump, other political pundits suggested actions speak louder than words.
Lilliana Mason, who studies political violence at Johns Hopkins University, said: "It can be pretty simple. You can just say 'political violence has no place in a democratic election.'
"Make it very clear, and often a very simple rejection of violence will make people step back."
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