WASHINGTON—White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the latest attempted assassination of President Donald Trump stems from 11 years of the left, commentators, and media demonizing him.
Leavitt ripped Democrats and the media during what is likely her last White House press briefing before she gives birth to her second child, just days after a gunman, whom authorities have identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, allegedly attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton.
“Nobody in recent years has faced more bullets and more violence than President Trump,” Leavitt said. “This political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters, by commentators; yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party; and even some in the media.”
“This hateful and constant and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump, day after day after day for 11 years, has helped to legitimize this violence and bring us to this dark moment,” she added.
As Breitbart News reported, the manifesto authorities say is Cole’s allegedly detailed his intention to target not only the president but also administration officials.
“Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points, are fueling this kind of violence,” she said.
“The left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed, and it almost did so again this weekend,” the press secretary added.
Leavitt also noted that the rhetoric in Cole’s alleged manifesto echoes the mainstream anti-Trump rhetoric.
“When you read the manifesto of this shooter, ask yourselves, ‘How different is the rhetoric from this almost-assassin than what you read on social media and hear in various forums every single day?'” she said in a challenge to reporters. “The answer, if you’re being honest with yourself, is that there is no difference at all.”
She pointed to ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who said last week that First Lady Melania Trump has “a glow like an expectant widow” as just one example.
“Who, in their right minds, says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” Leavitt said. “And having experienced what I did with the First Lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that.”
The first lady shamed Kimmel in a post on X earlier Monday, and the president called for ABC to fire him immediately.
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” the first lady wrote. “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”
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