When former President Donald Trump said he wouldn’t “mind” if someone had to “shoot through the fake news” to get to him, he was not wishing the media any ill will.
Trump said those words Sunday at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, as he spoke about the Secret Service protecting him during two apparent assassination attempts this summer, per Politico.
“All we really have over here is the fake news, right? And to get me somebody would have to shoot through the fake news,” Trump said, as stood behind the bullet proof glass. “And I don’t mind that so much.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement the former president was talking about the two apparent assassination attempts, not wishing the media any harm.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” Cheung said. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.”
Cheung said Trump was suggesting the media was in danger and “should have had a glass protective shield, also.”
However, Trump’s remarks on Sunday appeared to be what some believe is a continuation of his violent rhetoric.
Last week, Trump said Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney should “face nine barrels shooting at her.”
On Sunday, Trump also said he should “never have left” the White House in 2020 when he lost to President Joe Biden in an election Trump claimed he won.
“We had the safest border in the history of our country the day that I left. I shouldn’t have left,” Trump said. “I mean honestly, because we did so, we did so well, we had such a great, so now, I mean every, every polling booth has hundreds of lawyers standing there. It’s all about the lawyers.”
