Snapshot: Blaming Democrats, Demanding Silence

Republicans are exploiting Sunday's potential assassination attempt for political advantage

(Photo by Justin Sullivan via Getty Images)

You knew it was coming—that the potential assassination attempt at a Trump golf course in West Palm Beach on Sunday would be exploited to blame Democrats and seek political advantage. JD Vance recounted his initial phone call with Donald Trump after the suspect was apprehended, in which the GOP presidential nominee told his running mate, “They tried to do it again.”

They.

Since the weekend, Trump and some of his most incendiary enablers have made public statements demanding that Democrats tone down their rhetoric. As if the problem of political violence rests with Democrats who voice their fears over Trump’s intentions to be a dictator on day one and end democracy if he regains power. As if Trump has not exploited his power again and again to urge political violence. As if no one remembers his incitement of a violent and deadly insurrection on Jan. 6 or the shameful barrage of death threats that follow his direct attacks on anyone who opposes him, including judges and prosecutors, poll workers, former staff members and so many others.

This is a moment that the suddenly self-righteous Republicans are using to falsely insist that the country is facing a dangerous climate of violence because of Democrats’ statements. Trump adviser Stephen Miller, a leading advocate for Trump’s aggressively hostile anti-immigrant ravings and agenda, took to social media to demand VP Kamala Harris “disavow her party’s and her own inflammatory rhetoric of incitement against President Trump.” That’s not all he said: “She must tell her followers he is NOT a threat to democracy, he is not a dictator, and tell anyone who is planning violence to stand down.”

Seriously.

In fact, the vice president had already put out a statement reiterating what she and President Joe Biden have said consistently: “I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more to violence.”

As for Trump? No surprises there. Here’s a glimpse from his social media rantings yesterday: “The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris…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!”

This came on the heels of him insisting that “The Democrats are DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!” I can only imagine what pop star Taylor Swift and her security team are currently confronting since Trump posted this in the wake of her endorsement of Kamala Harris: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”

Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate complains that the “rhetoric is out of control,” while praising his boss for “calling for peace and calm.” Then he goes on in a lengthy post to decry the media for attempting to censor the Republican ticket, expressly refusing to take any responsibility for how his and Trump’s hateful words toward Haitian immigrants have led to bomb threats and school evacuations in Springfield, Ohio.

In the days ahead, expect more of this new and cynical tactic. The Republicans will continue to complain that the real problem is Democratic criticism—that anyone who insists democracy is facing an existential danger is somehow calling for violence. As I said in yesterday’s essay (“This Climate of Violence”), “The idea that there are people out there who believe that our elections and our nation’s future can be best determined by a bullet rather than the ballot box is a terrible and wrong thing—yet it remains a prevalent danger.”

We have had nine years to watch how Donald Trump has incited violence, not only on a mass scale, but to trigger stochastic terrorism by troubled individuals. The unpredictable nature of these acts and the resulting ability to deny culpability is something that the carnage-loving Trump has exploited again and again to stoke fear. I expect that—as we get closer to an election that Trump fears he will lose—his incitements will grow more violent and extreme.

When the Republicans call to tone down the rhetoric, what they’re really saying is that they want Democrats and Trump critics to be silent while they continue to expand a culture of violence. We have a duty to continue to speak out.

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