Donald Trump blames Biden and Kamala Harris for threats: 'Their rhetoric is placing me in danger'

Donald Trump, former US president and the Republican candidate for US presidency in the upcoming 2024 elections, have squarely blamed US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the recent assassination attempt on his own life. Trump’s remarks come in the wake of the second apparent assassination attempt against him since July.

On Monday morning, Trump spoke candidly about the incident, which took place at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The incident unfolded when Secret Service agents discovered a suspected gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, hidden in the bushes with an AK-47-style rifle aimed through a chain-link fence at the golf course. Routh, who also had a GoPro camera and two backpacks, fled the scene but was apprehended on Interstate 95 shortly thereafter.

Authorities are treating the event as a serious assassination attempt against the former president. In his interview to Fox News, Trump asserted that Routh’s actions were directly influenced by the “highly inflammatory language” of Biden and Harris. “He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump stated. “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 who are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

Trump pointed to past statements from Biden and Harris that have characterized him as a "threat to democracy" while portraying themselves as champions of unity. “They are the opposite,” Trump claimed. “These are people that want to destroy our country. It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”

He further argued that the dangerous rhetoric and legal challenges he faces are fueling the actions of “dangerous fools” like Routh. “These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to — that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one,” Trump added.

In response to these comments, Democrats have consistently accused Trump of inflaming tensions and being a threat to democracy, particularly due to his role in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. Over the weekend, President Biden suggested that Trump was trying to incite violence, referencing his comments about Haitian immigrants made in Springfield, Ohio.

Biden, at a recent event, emphasized that “any president should reject hate in America” and “not incite it,” reinforcing his stance against Trump’s divisive rhetoric.