It’s becoming a pattern: a potential threat to President Donald Trump’s life. Appeals were made from both sides to reduce the temperature. And then, a pivot.
Republicans turned the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Sunday into a campaign, accusing Democrats of opening the door to political violence with “dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric” against the president. And they are taking advantage of the attempted security breach to try to break the congressional impasse over Department of Homeland Security funding.
Trump said in a speech less than 24 hours after calling on Americans to “set aside our differences.” Interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” That “I think the hate speech from the Democrats… is very dangerous.” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters called Saturday’s incident “the inevitable consequence of a radical left that has normalized political violence.”
Official GOP social media accounts accused key battleground candidates of stoking political tension. “Democrats like Abdul El-Sayed promote this hatred,” the Republican Senate campaign arm said. Wrote about progressive candidate In the Michigan Senate race. in main, The group posted that Graham Plattner, The Democratic primary poll leader “said gun violence is a necessary means to achieve social change.” This is a reference to a since-deleted Reddit post from 2018; Plattner rejects violent rhetoric in them. And in North Carolina, an RNC account Criticized Senate candidate and former Governor Roy Cooper At first Trump was described as “a significant threat to our democracy” for not publicly condemning the attack.
It’s a playbook created by Republicans after two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024, when early calls for unity led to accusations that Democrats had spent years making threats of violence against the president by portraying him as a threat to democracy. He deployed it amid a rise in high-profile incidents of political violence, including the killing of Charlie Kirk last year, when top republican Trump blamed the “radical left” for inciting political violence.
There is no evidence that Democrats’ rhetoric was behind any attempt to assassinate Trump in 2024. The motive behind the shootings in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024 remains a mystery; The gunman, Thomas Crooks, was killed by federal agents. Ryan Roth, who was convicted in September of trying to assassinate a leading presidential candidate after hiding in bushes at Trump’s Florida golf course with a semiautomatic rifle. Reportedly concerned about war in Ukraine.
Democrats widely condemned the political violence Sunday. He expressed gratitude to the Secret Service, including the agents who took shot over his protective vest during the scuffle and was Discharged from hospital on Sunday. He rejected Republican efforts to shift blame and reiterated his call to pass a bill that cleared the Senate last month that would defund most of DHS, except for immigration enforcement.
“Here in America, we may have strong disagreements. But it’s important for us to agree to disagree strongly without disagreeing with each other,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Said on “Fox News Sunday”. “And it is certainly the case that violence is never the answer, whether targeted at the right, left or center.”
It was not immediately clear what motivated Saturday’s attack, although a man has been detained in connection with the incident. Reportedly criticized the policies of the Trump administration The letter was sent to family members shortly before they stormed the security post armed with guns and knives. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch Told on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning It appears that the suspect “really intended to target people working in the administration, possibly including the President.”
Some battleground Republicans – including in the top race for the Senate, Home And Governor – Move quickly to fill the void.
In the heated Michigan Senate race, former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers said in a statement that Democrats “know exactly what they are doing and continue to inspire violent acts. Why else would they continue to block funding for DHS, the same agency that is meant to keep us safe?”
He cited a clip of El-Sayed, one of his Democratic rivals, urging Democrats to do more against Republicans at a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally last year. “When they go low, we don’t go high – we take them to the ground and suppress them,” El-Sayed said at the time.
Senate Republican campaign arm The clip aired on Sunday morning.
In a statement on Sunday, El-Sayed criticized the attacks by Republicans, saying that “there is never an excuse for political violence” and called on everyone, “regardless of party, to tone down the rhetoric.”
“It is sad to see the NRSC so quickly and shamelessly politicize this horrific act,” El-Sayed said. “Needless to say, it strains credibility to believe that these acts have more to do with what a candidate said in Michigan in 2025 than what the MAGA movement has done to normalize violence through January 6, endless war, and violent rhetoric.”
Republicans have not yet put any significant cash behind a series of attacks that were still taking shape Sunday and playing out largely on social media and in public statements.
Still, Democrats called on him to step back.
“Instead of politicizing the shooting, Republicans should first look in the mirror. If they are truly serious about public safety, they should allow a vote on Senate-passed bipartisan legislation to reopen DHS,” Wyatt Shelton, a spokesman for the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement.
Democratic activists working on battleground campaigns argued that Republicans were being hypocritical, pointing to Trump and GOP lawmakers who have mocked acts of political violence against Democrats and worked to rewrite the history of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He also cited Trump’s suggestion last year that the actions of a half-dozen Democratic lawmakers who encouraged service members to disobey illegal orders were a “death sentence.”
“The last time multiple top government leaders were in one place and faced the threat of violence was (January 6, 2021),” Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said in a text message. “Hopefully they won’t pardon anyone this time.”
Mark Longbaugh, another veteran Democratic strategist working on the midterm races, said: “To any Republican making those allegations, my response is in two words: January 6th.”
But the Republicans were not giving up.
Shawn Roderick, a spokesman for GOP Sen. Susan Collins in battleground Maine, issued A statement criticizing his Democratic rivalsGovernor Janet Mills and newcomer Graham Platner, for criticizing efforts to defund DHS.
“The Secret Service is funded through the Department of Homeland Security, the same department that is responsible for protecting our country and employing the officers who risk their lives every day,” Roderick said. “Yet some, such as Graham Plattner and Janet Mills, have criticized efforts to defund DHS as part of a broader political agenda, including Senator Collins’ vote to keep it running.”
“This will have real consequences,” he added.
The campaigns of Plattner and Mills did not respond to requests for comment.
“Democrats have spent years adding fuel to the fire, attacking law enforcement and stoking division, and now they want to pretend they’re the party of public safety,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We’re going to make sure voters see the whole picture and hold each of them accountable for the rhetoric they’ve adopted and the chaos they’ve helped create.”
Erin Doherty and Jessica Piper contributed to this report.
