It accuses the media and the Democratic Party of demonizing President Trump following Saturday’s shooting at the Correspondents’ Dinner.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has lamented “another assassination attempt against” U.S. President Donald Trump following the shooting during the Correspondents’ Dinner last Saturday, and has held the press and the Democratic Party responsible for “political violence” in the country and for systematically demonizing the President.
“Saturday was supposed to be a joyous evening celebrating freedom of speech… Instead, the night was hijacked by a deranged anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the President and as many Administration officials as possible,” she declared in her first press conference following the incident.
Leavitt emphasized that this marks the third “major” assassination attempt against President Trump in two years. “No other president in history has faced such repeated and grave assassination attempts… No one in recent years has faced more bullets or more violence than President Trump. The President’s composure in the face of chaos—while another individual attempted to take his life—was truly admirable and something I will never forget,” she added.
The spokesperson asserted that the President “is willing to risk his own life” for his fellow citizens, but warned that this does not mean “the constant fear of political violence” should be allowed to permeate American society. “We can and must have strong disagreements in this country. But those disagreements must be peaceful. Debate, peaceful protest, and voting are the ways to resolve disagreements—not bullets,” she argued.
Along these lines, Leavitt stated that this violence “stems from the systematic demonization” faced by both Trump and his supporters—a demonization she attributed to journalists and members of the Democratic Party. “This constant and violent rhetoric of hate—directed at President Trump day after day for eleven years—has contributed to legitimizing violence and has led us to this dark moment. Those who constantly and falsely label the President a fascist, deem him a threat to democracy, and compare him to (Adolf) Hitler for political gain are fueling this type of violence,” she noted.
“The Left’s cult of hate against the President—and everyone who supports him and works for him—has left several people injured and dead, and it nearly did so again this weekend,” she lamented, before equating the manifesto issued by the shooting suspect with comments made on social media.
Leavitt took the opportunity to include host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel in these accusations: “He disgustingly referred to the First Lady, Melania Trump, as a ‘widow-in-waiting.’ Who in their right mind would suggest that a wife would be beaming at the potential murder of her beloved husband? This kind of rhetoric regarding the President, the First Lady, and their supporters is completely unhinged, and it is unbelievable that the American public consumes it night after night,” she pointed out.
Earlier this Monday, the Trumps demanded that the network for which Kimmel works—ABC—fire him over a parody skit regarding the Correspondents’ Dinner, in which he referred to Melania Trump as a “widow-in-waiting,” just days before the dinner was interrupted by a shooting aimed at assassinating Trump.
Last September, the well-known host saw ABC—a Disney-owned network—indefinitely cancel his show, though the decision was reversed a few days later following comments suggesting that the MAGA movement was attempting to capitalize politically on the murder of ultraconservative activist Charlie Kirk.
