Former President Donald Trump on Monday accused Vice President Kamala Harris of putting his life in danger by using inflammatory rhetoric — and then proceeded to use inflammatory rhetoric of his own by labeling her "the enemy from within."
In an interview with Fox News, the former president claimed that Harris and Democrats' attacks on him are "causing me to be shot at," before then declaring that Democrats "are people that want to destroy our country."
"It is called the enemy from within," the former president declared. "They are the real threat."
In reality, there is no evidence that either of the men accused of trying to assassinate Trump had been influenced by Harris's criticisms.
Ryan Wesley Routh, who was arrested after an alleged attempt on Trump's life on Sunday, voted for Trump in 2016 and this year was supportive of Republican candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Pennsylvania Trump rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, meanwhile, was a registered Republican but didn't leave any kind of online footprint that shed light on his political views or his motives for trying to assassinate the former president.
Many political observers slammed Trump for denouncing heated rhetoric while at the same time calling his political opponents "the enemy from within."
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"Ah yes, that classic de-escalation technique of calling your opponents the enemy within," sarcastically joked national security attorney Bradley Moss.
"An arsonist can't keep blaming others for getting singed," observed Decision Desk HQ contributor Nick Field.
Semafor reporter Benjy Sarlin marveled that Trump "can't even get the point out about rhetoric without calling his opponents 'the enemy from within' who 'want to destroy our country.'"
Tom Watson, a professor at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies, wrote that Trump's latest attack has "shades of George Wallace, the candidate Trump most resembles."
Wallace, an infamous segregationist, was shot while campaigning for the presidency in 1972.
