Trump: Assassination Attempts Haven’t ‘Affected Me,’ Trying ‘Not to Think About it’

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Former President Donald Trump told Marc Thiessen at The Washington Post that the assassination attempts on him in the past 60 days haven’t affected him.

“Well, it hasn’t affected me,” explained Trump. “I mean, I try not to think about it. But people ask me that question a lot, and I try not to think about it. This was different from the first one, but this one in a certain way was, I mean, the gun was even more violent. And the bullets were from Secret Service, and they caught him. They caught him before anything happened. But it would have happened. I mean, he’s somebody that it would have happened.”

Trump also recounted the day to Thiessen:

“Well, this is a much different circumstance,” he said. “I was at the golf course at Trump International and playing. We were on the fifth hole and playing normally, like you would play a round of golf with some friends, and we heard bullets. But the bullets were from the gun of the Secret Service agent who acted really quickly.“They saw a man in bushes and the gun, and he spotted him and he spotted the barrel of the gun and he started shooting. And the end result is they captured him and they’re questioning him now. … And we had very good Secret Service. I mean, I think they did a very good job.”“The end result is they got him,” Trump said.Did agents jump on him when the shots rang out, as they did in Pennsylvania? “No, we actually did more of get-out-of-the-area thing,” he said. “And that would be on the golf carts — rather quick golf carts. So, in this case. But they were very protective, very good. They did a great job and tough.”

Trump blamed the rhetoric from the Democrats for the attempts on his life:

We are still learning about this gunman, but Trump assigns blame to Democratic campaign rhetoric that portrays him as a threat to democracy. “I think a lot of it is the rhetoric that the Democrats are putting out between the rhetoric and lawsuits that we won in Florida.“And it works both ways because the Republicans are angry about it. And the Democrats are [angry] when they hear a threat to democracy. I’m actually the opposite of a threat to [democracy]. They’re the threat to democracy. I mean, they’ve gone against their political opponent with lawyers, never happened. … This happens in South America a lot, but this never happened here. And when they hear all of this rhetorical splendor that they throw out — even the congressmen and they have the kind of statements that are made — I think it’s a disgrace.“I really believe that the rhetoric from the Democrats is making — I put out a [Truth Social post] today — is making the bullets fly. And it’s very dangerous. Dangerous for them. It’s dangerous for both sides.”

Trump praised the Democrats in Congress who have taken the attempts on his life seriously, launching investigations and demanding answers about security failures:

He does, however, praise Democrats on Capitol Hill who are taking congressional investigations into the assassinations seriously. “One thing I’ll say is that the investigation that’s going on is, believe it or not, it seems to be nonpartisan. The Democrats are just as angry about Butler and this one as the Republicans, because it can happen to them. And they understand that and they don’t want that. And I don’t think they want it to happen to me, either. But rhetorically, it’s very dangerous what they do.”

Thiessen said Trump paused the interview to meet with Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.

After the meeting, Trump called Corey Comperatore, the firefighter the shooter in Pennsylvania killed at the Butler rally.

Trump also praised Rowe:

When I asked about his meeting with Rowe, Trump was circumspect. “I think he’s trying very hard, but we have people out there that they’ll listen to statements made and they almost think that it’s a calling [to kill me],” he said. “But they say very bad things and they can make somebody that’s not balanced into a very severely unbalanced person. And then they lie in wait.”

The rest of the interview allowed Trump to make his case to undecided voters, reminding them that we didn’t pay a ton for groceries during his four years in office.

Tags: Donald Trump, Secret Service, Trump Assassination Attempt - Florida, Trump Assassination Attempt - Pennsylvania, Washington Post

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