Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday if the White House should tone down its rhetoric following the second assassination attempt against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Members of the Secret Service arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida, after he allegedly pointed an AK-47-style rifle at the former president, marking the second assassination attempt against Trump in the past two months. Doocy asked whether repeatedly accusing Trump of being a “threat” to democracy is at least partly responsible for the assassination attempts.
“It’s been only 2 days since somebody allegedly tried to kill Donald Trump again, and you’re here at the podium in the White House briefing room calling him a ‘threat,’” Doocy began. “How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president, the vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump other than ‘threat?’”
“Peter, if anything from this administration, I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question, the question that you’re asking, it is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you’re asking it because the American people are watching,” Jean-Pierre said. “And to say that, to say that from an administration that has consistently condemned political violence, from an administration where the president called the former president and was thankful, grateful that he was okay. From an administration that has called out January 6, called out the attack of Paul Pelosi, called out and said we need to lower the temperature after the Butler incident, and now for you to make that kind of comment in your question … that is also incredibly dangerous.”
The press secretary invoked the Capitol riot that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, to exemplify how the White House condemns political violence, which she called “one of the darkest days” in American history. She further said “political rhetoric” is unacceptable to bring into discussions regarding policy.
“But to your point, there are people watching at home, who might miss the part where you say ‘let’s lower the temperature’ and there are just mentally unstable people who are attempting to kill political candidates, to kill Donald Trump, and they are still hearing this White House refer to him as a threat. Is there no concern that people are taking that literally?” Doocy asked.
“We are using examples. We’re not just saying that just to say it,” Jean-Pierre replied. “January 6, Peter. January 6. How many times, January 6, 2021. That is a fact what was reported that happened on that day by some of your colleagues. And we have, at the same time, denounced political violence over and over, political rhetoric, over and over again. Over and over again.”
Trump became the victim of a separate assassination attempt at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him in the upper portion of his right ear from a rooftop located about 130 feet away. The incident killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and critically injured 74-year-old James Copenhaver, 57-year-old David Dutch.
The liberal media and Democrats have repeatedly warned that Trump is a “threat to our democracy. Jean-Pierre said as far back as August 2022 that Trump is “an extremist threat to our democracy” who intends to take rights away from people, while President Joe Biden’s former campaign alleged in June that Trump was the “instigator of an insurrection” and will try to incite alleged “extremists” to try and overthrow the government.
The liberal media has also compared Trump to fascist leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Former Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said Trump is even “more dangerous” than Hitler during a Nov. 22 MSNBC segment, while The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes warned the former president will build concentration camps if he is re-elected.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/White House press briefing)
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