The Left has settled on their all-purpose response to assassination attempts against President Donald J. Trump: he deserves it, but also, we had nothing to do with it.
That much is clear from the responses to the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In the aftermath, leftists on social media were quick to claim that the shooting was staged by the Trump administration. It’s a similar dynamic last seen after Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year, where we simultaneously heard leftists claim that he had supposedly brought it upon himself with his rhetoric, while also lying that his shooter was right-wing.
Of course, since Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, we have been bombarded with baseless allegations that he is a pedophile-protector, if not a pedophile himself, in addition to the now-familiar ominous warnings that he is leading a fascist takeover of the country. For people who have convinced themselves that he is the root of all evil, staging an assassination attempt for popular sympathy doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
On her podcast, former MSNBC host Joy Reid specifically floated the idea that the assassination was staged in order to boost support for Trump’s ballroom renovations, which bizarrely have become a large point of contention. Texas Democratic Congressman Jasmine Crockett similarly suggested that the attack and previous attempts on Trump’s life were “fake,” though not without first rattling off talking points on gun regulation.
But in his manifesto, the shooter, Cole Allen, simply recited anti-Trump lies that Reid, Crockett, and the Democratic Party as a whole have been pushing nonstop since his reelection. According to Allen, he did not want to be represented by a president he labeled “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor.” Democratic politicians may see Russia and Epstein conspiracy theories as effective political maneuvering, but in this case, one of their voters took their messaging to heart.
Democrats have long been proponents of the idea that rhetoric, down to miniscule politically-incorrect word choices, has consequences. It would be more honest for them to admit that heated rhetoric and occasional violence is worth it in order to fight Trump. Since they’re not comfortable openly saying that, though, expect more of the above approach: sympathy for their radicalized base, while dubiously straining to absolve them of responsibility.
