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Several Republican lawmakers have said they think the second assassination attempt of Donald Trump will give him a boost in the polls.
Officers arrested Ryan Wesley Routh on Sunday for allegedly aiming an SKS-style rifle through the bushes at Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while the former president was playing a round. Officials say Routh lurked in the bushes for nearly 12 hours before he was arrested.
The attempt came two months after Thomas Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking the former president in the ear. The 20-year-old, who was fatally shot by Secret Service agents, also killed one attendee and injured two others.
“I think people are going to rally to President Trump’s side. He’s under siege on so many fronts,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told The Hill on Tuesday. “It’s a Republican today, it could be a Democrat tomorrow. The system is broken.”
While the South Carolina senator is allied with Trump, the two have had their disagreements. Graham opposed Trump in 2015 and 2016 before flipping to support him in 2017.
Graham appeared at campaign events for Trump earlier this year. But in April, the former president said he regretted endorsing the senator in his re-election bid after Graham criticized him for refusing to support a federal abortion ban, the Associated Press reports.
Then, last month, Graham told NBC News Trump needs to focus on policy to win the election.
“President Trump can win this election. His policies are good for America, and if you have a policy debate for president, he wins. Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election,” Graham said.
Another Republican senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Hill the attempt on Trump’s life will produce “a rally-around effect.”
“I think that casts him in a more favorable light. That’s probably helpful to him. It’s something that breaks through with all voters. Who can not know about this?” the Republican senator said. “It’s probably significant that way, but how long it will last, I don’t know.”
Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, also told The Hill that Sunday’s incident “certainly helps.”
“The thing that’s helped him the most is his response,” Cramer told the outlet.
Polling still shows Harris leading Trump. The vice president has a 2.9-point lead over the former president, according to the latest average of national polls.
Trump has blamed Kamala Harris and Democratic “rhetoric” for the attempt on his life on Sunday. He claimed that “bullets are flying” because of “Communist Left Rhetoric” in a social media rant on Monday.
The former president then claimed that “only consequential presidents get shot at” during a town hall in Flint, Michigan on Tuesday.
“It’s a dangerous business running for president,” he said. “Being president, it’s a little bit dangerous. It’s... you know, they think race car driving is dangerous – no. They think bull riding, that’s pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business, and we have to keep it safe.”
Meanwhile, Harris has condemned political violence against Trump and revealed she checked in on the former president after the assassination attempt.
“I checked on him to see if he was okay, and I told him what I have said publicly: There is no place for political violence in our country,” Harris said on Tuesday. “I’m in this election, in this race, for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy. And in a democracy, there is no place for political violence.”
