Top allies of Donald Trump quickly accused President Biden and his supporters of using rhetoric that led to a shooting and potential assassination attempt Saturday at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pa., even as Biden condemned the attack and called on the nation to unite against political violence.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential Trump running mate, said in a statement on social media that the shooting was “not just some isolated incident.”
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
At the time of that statement, there was no public reporting on the motives of the shooter. Trump said he was wounded in his ear at the event, and was rushed from the scene. His campaign released a statement saying “he is fine,” while being checked out at a nearby medical facility.
Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to Trump’s campaign, posted on social media a sentiment similar to Vance’s, blaming the attack on efforts by Trump’s political enemies to disrupt his candidacy. “[W]ell of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this …” LaCivita wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, before later deleting the post.
LaCivita’s message pointed to words Biden had used earlier in the week when he told a group of donors about shifting his campaign to attack Trump’s policy record, including his record on abortion and Project 2025, a policy document drafted by some former Trump advisers. “So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bull’s eye,” Biden had told donors in the private call, which was reported publicly.
After deleting the X post, LaCivita reiterated in a text message to The Washington Post that he doesn’t think Biden “or anyone else” should use words like that.
“For weeks, leftist activists, Democrat donors and now even the president of the United States have made disgusting remarks,” LaCivita wrote. “It’s high time they be held accountable for it.”
“The best way is through the ballot box,” he added. He later posted a similar message on X.
Trump himself often uses inflammatory language, having taken office in 2021 by describing the state of the nation as “American carnage.” He has since called his political enemies “vermin,” described some undocumented migrants as “animals” and warned of a “bloodbath” if he fails to win in November.
Biden announced his 2020 campaign for the presidency by explaining he was motivated by the need to quell the division in the country and prevent the sort of deadly violence that had occurred at a 2017 white nationalist protest in Charlottesville.
“Look, there’s no place for this kind of violence in America. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country,” Biden said in remarks at the Rehoboth Beach, Del., police department Saturday. “We cannot be like this.”
The shooting Saturday was universally condemned by political leaders, with former president Barack Obama (D), Vice President Harris (D), Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and many others releasing statements condemning the violence.
“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” former House speaker and member of Congress Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “I thank God that former President Trump is safe.”
Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was attacked in his home by a hammer-wielding assailant in an act of political violence. Last year, at an event in California, Trump made light of that attack. “How’s her husband doing by the way? Does anyone know?” he said to laughs, in reference to Paul Pelosi’s injuries from the attacks.
Other Trump supporters were quick to blame Biden and the media for the shooting Saturday, despite a lack of information about the shooter’s motives.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) pointed to the “bull’s eye” comment by Biden earlier in the week.
“Joe Biden sent the orders,” Collins wrote on X. He later added, “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, Pa., should immediately file charges against Joe Biden for inciting an assassination.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was also quick to place blame. “The Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today,” Greene wrote on social media. “For years and years, they’ve demonized him and his supporters.”
Greene lost her House committee assignments in 2021 after social media posts from before her time in Congress surfaced that indicated that she had supported political violence. She had liked a post that suggested shooting prominent Democratic leaders and responded approvingly to a commenter who suggested hanging Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
She later told the House that her past comments “do not represent me,” and that she had been misled by online communities before winning office.
As the news spread of the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, Ron Kaufman, a Republican National Committee delegate from Massachusetts, described the mood in Milwaukee, where Republicans were gathering for next week’s nominating convention, as one of “shock and disbelief.”
“There’s a feeling,” Kaufman wrote in a text message, “that the Democrats’ constant pounding on President Trump as ‘a threat to democracy’ leads to this.’”
Maeve Reston contributed to this report.