Former president Donald Trump told a campaign rally Sunday that it wouldn’t bother him if someone shot the journalists who were present.
Early on in his remarks at an event in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Trump commented on an opening between the panels of bulletproof glass there to protect him.
Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, have frequently used the protective measure at outdoor rallies since the assassination attempt on his life in July.
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The gap in the glass panels, Trump suggested, would require a would-be assassin to fire a gun into the area where the news media was stationed before getting to him. His thoughts on that: no problem.
“To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and I don’t mind that so much,” Trump told the crowd, which reacted with laughter and howls of approval. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind that.”
“The riser facing him head-on is full of reporters and cameras,” tweeted CNN reporter Sarah Boxer, who was in attendance.
Trump proceeded to ramble about his appearance, disparage Harris’ intelligence, brag about attendance at his rallies, and assert opinion polls he doesn’t like should be illegal in what is essentially standard fare for one of his barely coherent marathon lectures at this point in the campaign.
The throwaway line about journalists, however, harkens back to a long running obsession—not just Trump’s hatred of the alleged “fake news,” but his repeated wishes that violence be wrought upon members of the media.
Trump has attacked journalists over 100 times in the leadup to the election, according to an analysis by Reporters sans frontières.
“Trump’s tirades against the press have become so commonplace that we risk not even noticing them anymore,” said RSF’s U.S. director, Clayton Weimers. “The dangers of growing numb to Trump’s attacks on the media cannot be overstated–what starts as a verbal insult can easily turn into something far more serious if left unchecked.”
In 2022, he mused multiple times about journalists being threatened with assault in prison. In 2018, he celebrated a Republican politician assaulting a reporter.
More recently, he’s threatened to imprison journalists who don’t give up their sources and said he’ll strip the broadcasting licenses of networks whose coverage he doesn’t like.
