Donald Trump accused President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris of being at the root of the recent violence against him.
Ryan Wesley Routh is accused of trying to kill Trump after authorities say he camped outside a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, for hours with a AK-47-style rifle before the Secret Service discovered the suspect in the bushes.
Authorities are treating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt against Trump, who was safe in the second attempt on his life since July.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News of Routh.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” he told the outlet, and posted similar accusations on X on Monday.
Trump noted that past comments from Biden and Harris are meant to paint him as a “threat to democracy,” while trying to convince Americans they are about “unity.”
But Trump insisted, “They are the opposite, these are people that want to destroy our country.”
He added: “It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”
Routh, 58, portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, but also tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and described his support, and then disdain, for Donald Trump — even urging Iran to kill him.
The accused had previously echoed anti-Trump comments made by Biden and Harris who have declared that they “cannot lose” because “democracy is on the ballot.”
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Trump said of his attempted killers: “These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to — that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one.”
Trump’s lies about voter fraud in the last election incited the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, where five people died and more than 140 police officers were injured while defending the building.
However, he said it is the Biden administration’s policies that are “destroying” America “by allowing millions of very dangerous migrants to pour into it and destroying our country and cities.”
The internet, meanwhile, noted that the timing of the assassination attempt was awfully coincidental given how close it was to Trump declaring, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social over the weekend, which was screenshot and widely shared on X and other platforms.
The former president made his anti-Swift post at 10.44 a.m., and Routh was arrested by 2 p.m.
“Trump saying he hated Taylor was the last straw for Swifties,” one person joked.
Another user wrote: “Biggest mistake anyone can ever make is p***ing off Swifties.”
Swift endorsed Harris and her running mate Tim Walz following the debate.
The pop star wrote in an Instagram post: “I think she (Harris) is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.” Swift then went on to applaud Walz’s fight for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights.