Trump blames Biden and Harris’ rhetoric toward him despite his own history of going after rivals

The suspect in the apparent assassination attempt targeting Trump camped outside the golf course for nearly 12 hours before a Secret Service agent thwarted him, documents show. NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, despite his own long history of inflammatory campaign rhetoric and advocacy for jailing or prosecuting his political enemies. With the election now just 50 days away and early ballots already being mailed out in some places, this year’s presidential campaign was among the most turbulent in American history even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, 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,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital. The Republican former president’s statements are a sharp departure from how he reacted after an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed his ear. Then, Trump called for national unity, saying in a social media post that “it is more important than ever that we stand United.” A few days later, though, the former president returned to sharply criticizing Democrats and relishing the political bombast. While authorities continue to investigate the motives of both the gunman in Pennsylvania and the person arrested Sunday in Florida, Trump has made clear that he sees attempts on his life as politically motivated — and blames his rivals for them. A newspaper is displayed in a vehicle outside of the Mar-a-Lago estate after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Police officers direct traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) His comments blaming Democrats’ rhetoric were echoed Monday by his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and conservative activist Ralph Reed at the Georgia Faith & Freedom Victory Dinner, where Vance argued that Democrats cannot call Trump a “threat to democracy” and “a fascist” and expect that violence would not follow. In a post on his social media site on Monday, Trump again claimed that he had been the target of politically motivated attacks, writing that the left “has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.” He said “it will only get worse” and then veered into comments about immigration, even though there is no evidence the person arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt was an immigrant. The community days later evacuated schools and government buildings amid bomb threats, adding to the sense of an especially unstable and tense moment in America even before Sunday’s stunning development. What to know about the 2024 Election Today’s news: Follow live updates Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. “America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said at the start of an address to the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.” Biden in his speech added that Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, was in Florida “assessing what happened and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure” Trump’s safety. The president later spoke with Trump on the phone and conveyed his relief that the former president was safe, according to the White House, which described it as a cordial conversation. Trump, in an evening appearance on X, said Biden “couldn’t have been nicer” during a Monday conversation his campaign described as being about Secret Service protection. Ronald Rowe Jr., the acting director of the Secret Service, speaks during a news conference by law enforcement officials, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in West Palm Beach, Fla., to provide an update on the investigation into the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat) After Trump’s shooting in Pennsylvania, Biden initially called on the nation to lower the political temperature, though he, too, eventually pivoted back to criticizing Trump as a threat to the nation’s founding principles. It’s impossible for anybody to get footing in their daily lives with a news cycle that is so constantly grim and absurd.” Trump had already been scheduled to spend Monday at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to a person familiar with his schedule. Beyond the first attempt on Trump’s life when he was grazed by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the campaign was whipsawed over the past six months by Trump’s historic criminal trial and conviction; the crisis and eventual end of Biden’s reelection campaign after his floundering debate performance; and Harris taking his place, fundamentally shifting the race. In August, Trump’s campaign disclosed it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, said it was too soon to know how Sunday’s close call might affect the days and weeks ahead in the campaign, but in his conversations with those in Trump’s orbit, he was picking up a deep sense of shock and uncertainty. “We’ve said unprecedented so many times this year,” Urban said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/836523f3bbecf4a183dc46fbefd8230a