President Donald Trump’s campaign has asserted that aggressive rhetoric from the Democrats is “directly to blame” for the recent assassination attempts against the Republican presidential candidate.
It comes in response to Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s inflammatory Wednesday statement to the press from her home at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
In a shocking and desperate display, while standing behind the vice presidential lectern, Harris told the American people several false claims about Trump while recklessly comparing the 45th president to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Trump’s campaign blasted Harris’s remarks as “dangerous” and said that such rhetoric is “directly to blame” for the kind of climate that led to two assassination attempts on his life.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said:
“She continues to stoke the flames of violence all in the name of politics.”
Trump was not the only critic of Harris’s comments.
Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued that the remarks comparing Trump to Hitler “inspires assassins.”
The Mississippi Republican Party also warned:
“This type of rhetoric is dangerous to the life of Donald Trump and our Democracy as we know it.”
Meanwhile, Jacob Helberg, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also blasted Harris for the remarks.
Helberg said that, as a person of Jewish descent with ancestors who endured the Holocaust, he thought it was a “disgrace” for Harris to compare Trump to Hitler.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the second-highest-ranking Republican in the House, argued:
“These dangerous rants by Kamala Harris, comparing President Trump to Hitler and calling him a fascist, are inciting more hate and vitriol, and ultimately leading to political violence against President Trump.
“It has to stop. This is extremely reckless and dangerous, and we have seen its consequences time and time again.
“How many more assassination attempts will it take before Democrat leaders tone down their rhetoric?”
Colin Reed, a Republican strategist and former campaign manager for former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, said it was “ironic” that Harris’s closing pitch heading into the election compares the former president to Hitler.
Reed noted that “all the summer rhetoric about needing to lower the temperature and cool the discourse has fallen away.”
“So much for the campaign of joy and vibes,” Reed added.
Harris’s decision to invoke Hitler while talking about Trump follows a fake news report from The Atlantic.
The report had been debunked before Harris even provided her statement.
The report chronicled comments from Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly.
Kelly claimed to recount a moment working under Trump when he supposedly lauded Hitler for doing “some good things.”
He also reportedly said that working with Trump showed him that the 45th president met the definition of a “fascist.”
Both the White House and Harris subsequently said they agreed with Kelly’s automatically disqualifying comments.
Harris referenced the salacious remarks in her speech to the media and repeated them as fact.
WATCH:
🚨BREAKING: Kamala Harris instantly seizes upon an already DEBUNKED hoax from the Atlantic and weaponizes it to attack Donald Trump:
"Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the death of six million Jews."
They're going to get Trump killed. Pray. pic.twitter.com/OBKAWedqqf
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 23, 2024
Meanwhile, Harris’ remarks come after her critics already warned the Democrat presidential candidate that her party’s rhetoric was contributing to the environment that has led to two assassination attempts on Trump’s life.
“The recklessness of the hateful rhetoric constantly aimed at Trump by his political opponents, even after he was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania in July,” said New York Post columnist Miranda Devine.
“No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people have tried to kill Donald Trump,” said JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
“I say that’s strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and cut this crap out, somebody is going to get hurt.”