JD Vance blamed just about everybody except Republicans on Tuesday for stoking rhetoric he said caused a second assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
“It’s time to say to the Democrats, to the media, to everybody who’s been attacking this man and trying to censor this man for going on 10 years now: Cut it out or you’re going to get somebody killed,” the vice presidential aspirant said in Michigan, accusing the media and supporters of Kamala Harris of putting a “giant target on Donald Trump’s back.”
Vance echoed sentiments expressed by Trump a day earlier. In spite of Trump’s repeated threats of retaliation against his political enemies—even inviting violence against journalists—a second possible attempt on Trump’s life has given Trump and Vance a whole new line of attack on the campaign trail.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Don’t lecture Donald Trump about softening his rhetoric after two people tried to kill him,” Vance said to cheers from his supporters at a rally in Sparta, Michigan, just seven weeks before Election Day.
Vance traveled to Michigan Tuesday with his wife, Usha, and their German Shepherd named Atlas, ostensibly to tout the Republican ticket’s anti-immigration policies, a top campaign issue, as Trump and Harris are running neck and neck in key battleground states, including in Michigan (even as national polls have Harris with a slight edge over Trump).
But the Ohio senator spent most of his time railing against Democrats, including Vice President Harris, and the media, who he blamed for embellishing the conspiracy theory about cat- and dog-eating Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, a highlight of the historic 2024 presidential campaign.
Instead of repeating the outlandish and unfounded claims, Vance focused on vindication. He pointed to remarks by GOP Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who claimed on Monday that the numerous bomb threats made against schools and other institutions in the now-famous small Ohio town were hoaxes that originated overseas.
“Stop trying to shut up the people,” Vance lectured reporters. “Do your job!”
Before he launched into all the shouting, Vance explained where he was on Sunday when Trump called to tell him about the second attempt on his life.
“I was playing video games with my son,” said Vance, who was oblivious to the news out of West Palm Beach, Florida, until his phone rang and he knew the caller: “Donald J. Trump."
“He was a little annoyed,” Vance said of Trump. “He was mad because he was on the sixth hole and he was about to make a birdie.” Less angered, apparently, that would-be assassin Ryan Routh was lurking in the vicinity for nearly 12 hours, with an AK-style assault rifle equipped with a scope pointed through the fence within about 400 yards of the former president.
“He said, ‘I’m kind of p--sed off they wouldn’t let me finish by birdie. I was having the game of my life.”
