Former President Donald Trump believes he knows exactly who to blame for the apparent second attempt on his life.
That blame is directed to the rhetoric spewed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News Digital about Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged gunman. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
“They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in,” Trump said. “These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to. That is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one.”
Trump spoke to Fox News Digital on Monday, one day after Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after he pointed a gun through a fence near the Florida golf course where Trump was playing Sunday.
The apparent assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday was the second attempt to kill the former president — the first one happened at a political rally in July in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was shot in the ear and one member of the audience was killed, per The Hill.
Trump’s focus of blame centered on Biden and Harris as he said they “want to destroy our country.”
“It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat,” Trump said.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Biden and Harris have “taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.”
“Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” Trump said, calling his opponents’ border policy “an unpardonable sin.”
The former president was playing golf when the Secret Service saw a gun poking through the fence about 500 yards away from Trump was playing.
An agent opened fire and Routh fled. He was later apprehended, police said, and was charged Monday with federal gun crimes, The Associated Press reported.
Biden and Harris condemned political violence after the incident.
“I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today,” Harris said in a statement Sunday. “As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”
Biden echoed those sentiments Sunday. He called for cooler heads to prevail after the shooting in July.
