Donald Trump made a last-ditch play to save his campaign’s flagging numbers in Pennsylvania but instead spent part of a rally telling his supporters he did not “mind” if journalists were shot.
The ex-president was in Lititz for an outdoor rally on Sunday. Bolstered by her opponent’s flagging poll numbers across the board, Kamala Harris is going for the jugular with a final push of campaigning alongside an all-star lineup aimed at pushing herself over the top in several key swing states.
Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016 and then lost to Biden (along with the presidency) in 2020, is one of them. The vice president’s campaign is spread across the state, too, ahead of Election Day.
At his rally on Sunday, Trump appeared to be tiring to some degree, and in a quieter tone than he has at other events described at one point how a would-be assassin would have to fire through a nearby riser of journalists to reach him. One of two assassination attempts against the ex-president’s life was carried out in Pennsylvania this summer.
“I have a piece of glass here...But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. “And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind that.”
His campaign put out a statement in response claiming that Trump was actually talking about his concerns for the safety of journalists at the rally — an obviously false statement, as Trump himself had said he didn’t “mind” that horrifying scenario playing out. Twice.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about. The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else,” argued Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman.
Cheung added of Trump’s remarks: “It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats. In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!"
It isn’t the first time even in the past week that Donald Trump has vocalized one of his apparently violent fantasies while his campaign and various allies have tried to paper over it and pretend like his remarks don’t exist.
Of his Republican critic Liz Cheney, he said on Thursday: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Trump has also expressed a desire to see protesters beaten up at his rallies — several protesters have since been beaten up at his rallies as they were carried out by security.
His anger at his political enemies has only grown in the weeks leading up to Election Day, though his language aimed at Democrats and virtually anyone who opposes him from a political standpoint crossed the boundary into dehumanization months ago.
He has, this year, called Democrats “not people” in “some cases” as well as the “enemies within” — in the latter case, naming several Democrats specifically, including Nancy Pelosi, to whom he said that phrase applied. The ex-president also threatened to call out the military against protesters in the United States.
On Sunday, he called the entire party “demonic”, told voters he shouldn’t have left office in 2021 after the assault on the US Capitol and his election defeat, while vowing a new personal grudge against Michelle Obama: “I think we're gonna start having a little fun with Michelle."
Voters are set to decide if he will have the keys to the White House in less than 48 hours.
