WASHINGTON: Blame game and politicking began within minutes of the attempt to assassinate former US president and Republican candidate for presidential election, Donald Trump, on Saturday.
Hardline Trump Republicans and Democrats traded charges, accusing the other side of creating the atmosphere that triggered the attempted assassination.
Trump supporters ferreted out a statement by President Joe Biden in which he said “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye”, to make the explosive claim that it was a deliberate attempt to eliminate their leader.
“I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump. We’re done talking about the (June 27) debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye. He’s gotten away with doing nothing for the last 10 days except ride around in his golf cart, bragging about scores he didn’t score…The fact is, he’s not answering questions,” Biden was reported to have said in a phone call to donors.
Trump acolytes, some of them auditioning to be his running mate, suggested such statements engendered the attempt on his life.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” Ohio senator J D Vance, one of the top contenders to be on the Trump ticket, said in a statement.
South Carolina senator Tim Scott, another Trump ally, shared a similar sentiment, saying, “Let’s be clear: This was an assassination attempt aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse.”
On their part, Democrat supporters viewed the incident through their own lens of suspicion, one of them saying, “I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but you don’t just stand around and fist pump when there’s an active shooter.”
The fact that the assailant carried an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a weapon of choice lately for mass shooters in America, outraged gun control activists.
“As we process this news about Donald Trump’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, remember the shooter didn’t act alone. He was assisted by 220 Republican House members, 49 senators, and the NRA (National Rifle Association) who have consistently blocked gun safety,” wrote one on social media.
Others pointed out to Trump’s own sneering dismissal of the attempt on the life of then House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and his implicit threat of violence during the election campaign, including suggesting there would be a bloodbath if his side perceived the outcome as being unfair.