The White House has directly pointed to the opposition's rhetoric as the trigger for a shooting that occurred during the traditional correspondents' dinner gala, an event that this year turned into a scene of panic. According to the U.S. administration, this incident represents the third "assassination attempt" against the president in the last two years.
The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was tasked with conveying the government's official stance this Monday in a tone of extreme harshness. Leavitt explicitly linked physical violence with the political rhetoric of the Democratic and progressive sectors. "The left's cult of hate against the president and all those who support and work for him has resulted in several people being injured and killed, and this weekend it was on the verge of happening again," she declared emphatically to the media.
Leavitt, who was sharing the stage with Donald Trump at the time of the attack, denounced what she considers a "systematic demonization" of the Republican leader. According to the spokesperson, the climate of hostility has reached critical levels due to the use of extreme epithets by his opponents.
"Those who constantly label and falsely defame the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points are fueling this type of violence," she added firmly. Despite the seriousness of the incident, Donald Trump himself had an unexpected reaction minutes after the events.
Although the president has frequently crossed the line with "verbal attacks" against his opponents and historically referred to the media as "enemies of the people," after the shooting, he adopted a "more conciliatory" tone towards the press present in the room. However, his communication team insists that the level of personal risk assumed by the president is unprecedented in recent U.S. history.
"No one in recent years has been targeted by more bullets and more violence than President Trump," Leavitt concluded to underscore the exceptional nature of the situation the Republican candidate is facing. The investigation into the shooter and the security failures at the gala remains open as the country processes this new episode of political violence.