Trump says rhetoric from Democrats ‘is causing me to be shot at’

President Donald Trump is already blaming Democrats for the apparent assassination attempt on him at his West Palm Beach golf course on Sunday. The incident came roughly two months after a gunman attempted to kill Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at,” Trump said Monday. The Secret Service on Monday said the suspect did not fire any shots and never had the former president in his line of sight. But they admitted that they did not search the perimeter of the golf course before Trump began his game and that the almost-assassin may have been hiding at the course for nearly 12 hours waiting for his target.

Trump — who has routinely employed violent rhetoric — has also pointed the finger at Dems over the attempt on his life in July.

Meanwhile, Trump supporter Elon Musk on Sunday questioned in a since-deleted post why “no one is even trying to assassinate” President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris. Russia also didn’t wait long to chime in, with the Kremlin on Monday effectively blaming the incident on US support for Ukraine. The suspect has reportedly exhibited a strong sense of solidarity with Ukraine amid its war with Russia. Trump has expressed opposition to continued US aid to Kyiv, and investigators are reportedly looking into whether this motivated the suspect.

July’s shooting, which was caught on video and witnessed firsthand by a large group of people, temporarily boosted Trump’s poll numbers. And much like after the first attempt, Trump’s campaign is already referencing Sunday’s incident in fundraising emails. But this attempt doesn’t seem to be getting as much online traction as the previous one, says Noah Daponte-Smith, a US analyst for Eurasia Group.

“Given that the previous attempt, which came within millimeters of succeeding, had a negligible impact on the polls, I'd expect the impact of this attempt to be similarly minimal,” adds Daponte-Smith. The biggest impact could be a result of Trump's own rhetoric, Daponte-Smith says, as the former president continues to lean into the notion that Democrats are putting him in danger.