Assassination attempts targeting President Donald Trump have become almost commonplace in today’s volatile political climate, but the trend didn’t just come out of nowhere.
In a hard-hitting segment of his popular Fox News show, Greg Gutfeld pointed the finger at many of his colleagues in the media for fanning the flames of such extremism. The commentary soon began spreading via social media with posts praising his assessment of the current environment.
Gutfeld’s critique extended to the Democratic Party during the same show, as Bill Clinton accuser Juanita Broaddrick noted:
In light of Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a number of comments from mainstream media figures have come under renewed scrutiny. Fox News highlighted on-air remarks made by CNN commentator S.E. Cupp just minutes before the shooting:
“The Correspondents’ Association was trying to sort of mend some fences with a guy who wants us dead, figuratively. Figuratively, he wants journalism dead,” Cupp said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Cupp made the remarks about 20 minutes prior to the reported shooting during a panel discussion with CNN anchors John Berman and Laura Coates as the network previewed Trump’s arrival.
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has historically celebrated press freedom while bringing together reporters and government officials, though Trump boycotted the event during his first term.
Official GOP social media accounts accused prominent battleground candidates of stoking political tensions. “Democrats like Abdul El Sayed fuel this hate,” Republicans’ Senate campaign arm wrote of the progressive candidate in the Michigan Senate race. In Maine, the group posted that Graham Platner, the Democratic primary polling leader, “said that violence with a gun was a necessary means to achieving social change.” It’s a reference to since-deleted Reddit posts from 2018; Platner has disavowed the violent rhetoric in them. And in North Carolina, an RNC account criticized Senate candidate and former Gov. Roy Cooper for not publicly condemning the attack while previously calling Trump “a significant threat to our democracy.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered similar condemnation in her remarks during a conference on Monday: