Donald Trump, appearing on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" on Wednesday, called Democrats "out of control" as the party prepares to enter its third convention night of torching the former president. Barack and Michelle Obama capped off Tuesday's proceedings with fiery indictments that Trump said was a distraction from issues like crime and the border.
Hewitt, a conservative radio talk show host, asked Trump about the level of "rhetoric" against him in light of an assassination attempt against the former president in July. "Do you think the rhetoric directed at you and the lawfare contributes to the climate that created that sort of an attack?” he asked.
Trump, who has engaged in provocative language of his own, answered that it could. "You know, I was mentioned at the Democrats’ little party that they have going on in Chicago, and it’s pretty sad,” he said. "I was mentioned, I think, almost 200 times. And they mentioned the economy about five times. They mentioned the border maybe none. They mentioned crime almost none. So I mean, they’re out of control. These people are out of control. And they’re ruining our nation. Our nation is going to hell."
Democrats have accused him of cherry-picking facts and made the case that it's Trump who is weak on the economy, which is recovering from a collapse that happened during his last, COVID-afflicted year in office, the border, which bipartisan legislation tried to fix before Trump torpedoed it, and crime, which has occurred at roughly similar levels during the first three years of Trump's presidency (while spiking during the pandemic) compared to now. Trump has countered that the recovery is not fast enough and that Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic politicians are undermining law enforcement.
The former president also repeated his accusation that Democrats cheated by launching an "coup" against President Joe Biden and replacing him with Harris, who Trump is struggling against in national and swing state polls.
“They’ve taken the presidency away from this guy. They’ve actually taken the presidency away. This was a coup. This was the first coup of an American president, or probably of any high official. But this was incredible. I watched them, and I watched his angry speech,” he griped.
