While calls for the GOP to change their tone echo through the media, the same cannot be said for Democrats who have called Trump “Hitler” and a “threat to democracy.”
On Saturday, a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman was killed after being engaged by Secret Service snipers and the FBI continues to investigate the crime.
In several statements President Trump thanked supporters for their prayers, asked them to “remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.” He also offered condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief in Pennsylvania who died protecting his family from the shooter.
Immediate reactions from across the political spectrum offered sympathy for President Trump, with President Biden also thanking “the Secret Service for getting [Trump] to safety” and declaring “there’s no place for this kind of violence in America.”
Throughout the election cycle, President Biden’s campaign and Biden himself, has repeatedly characterized Trump as a threat to democracy, warning “we lose everything” if Trump were to win re-election.
Yet within hours, the media narrative began shifting, with some outlets blaming Republicans for pointing out the political rhetoric with violent imagery used by Democrats.
MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, a former Biden Press Secretary, said it was incumbent on Republicans to to change their tone and use their convention to restore civility. Psaki continued, “or anyone out there who has a platform who thinks the moment right now is to be political and attack the other party, you are feeding into the danger. You are making it more likely there’s retaliation.”
The day after Psaki excoriated anyone “attack[ing] the other party”, the Biden campaign tweeted about Trump’s new Vice-Presidential running mate, JD Vance, arguing voters can “protect democracy” by voting against Trump.
Calls from the media for Republicans to end the “embrace of the kind of rhetoric that prompts violence” are abundant. This is the same media whose members call Trump “Hitler”, who run an editorial calling Trump a “traitor” less than 24 hours after an attempt on his life, and who declared that “Trump will execute whoever he wants” if he is re-elected. The New Republic even ran an article saying Trump is now an even bigger threat to democracy after the attempt on his life.
Hollywood is going even farther, with music group Tenacious D complaining to their live audience about the shooter not killing Trump.
Lost in the calls for Republicans to tone down their rhetoric is the acknowledgement of Democrat elected officials’ overheated rhetoric such as Sen. Chuck Schumer riling up a crowd in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and seemingly threatening conservative Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that they “will pay the price” for their rulings. Just two years later, a man was arrested outside the home of Justice Kavanaugh with a firearm attempting to murder him.
Nor was there a call by the media for Democrats to tone down rhetoric when a former volunteer for Bernie Sanders’ campaign opened fire at a group of Republican lawmakers practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot and nearly died during that shooting.
When Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters encouraged a crowd to harass and provoke members of the Trump administration in public, there was no outrage from mainstream media. In fact, Vox ran defense for Waters.
Legal scholar and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley laid out a long list of instances of heated, violent, or confrontational rhetoric from the media and Democratic politicians, while Politico said last December that any comparison between Trump and Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler was appropriate.
