Former President Donald Trump and his allies are fanning political flames after his Secret Service detail thwarted what the FBI is describing as an apparent second attempt to assassinate him in less than 10 weeks.
In a message posted to multiple social media platforms Monday, Trump accused his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden of taking "politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred." He said their rhetoric is responsible for threats and violence against him, even though they routinely denounce political violence and did so on Sunday.
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive it weekdays.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally, wondered in a tweet why "no one is even trying to assassinate" Biden or Harris — a post that Musk later said was a joke and deleted.
But it was clear by midday Monday that Trump and his brain trust had no intention of dialing back on hot rhetoric. In turning so fast to Biden and Harris, Trump skipped past appeals for sympathy and even a perfunctory call for calm or unity.
There are signs of division within his ranks about this approach. Some Trump allies believe that the campaign squandered an opportunity for unity following the first assassination attempt. Instead, Trump ramped up his anti-Harris rhetoric, which coincided with him losing traction in polls over the summer.
From Mar-a-Lago, where guests included House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Trump took phone calls from friends expressing their relief, listened in when acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe phoned Johnson to deliver a briefing on the incident, and told golf-related jokes, according to people familiar with his activities. The scare is unlikely to interfere with Trump's schedule or campaign plans, according to an adviser who has spoken to him since Sunday's incident.
While his campaign's top advisers focused on his security — and that of his aides — in a message sent to staff Sunday night, his fundraising team pressed donors to give money in the immediate aftermath of the incident. On Monday, he repeated an assertion he made in last week’s debate that Biden and Harris are responsible for him being targeted.
"Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at," he said in an interview with Fox News Digital, "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 out."
Read more →
Follow live updates on the apparent assassination attempt →