First Things First: Violence in the pursuit of political ends is never acceptable. Those who choose bullets over ballots are not only barbarous cretins, they are counterproductive to their own twisted objectives. Case in point: The tinhorn terrorist who shot at Donald Trump didn’t advance his goals one bit, but he did give Trump the imprimatur of political martyr that he has long coveted.

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That said, the reactions coming from many of Trump’s MAGA confederates have served only to inflame the division and hostility that has been a hallmark of Trump’s tactics since embarking on a career as a populist cult leader. Their seething animus and warped fixation on vengeance has been turned up to a raging boil. It’s a state that Trump has guided them toward all along (and resulted in the January 6th insurrection), even while pretending that it’s his opponents who are prone to violence…

SEE THIS: PROJECTION: The Creators of Trump’s Project 2025 Say Biden is Plotting to Retain Power By Force

Rather than trying to cool down the rhetoric and find unity in opposition to violence, the MAGA Klan has been furiously blaming President Biden and other Democrats for the loathsome acts of a lone wolf, who it turns out was a registered Republican. They complain that Biden has ratcheted up the rhetoric by accurately pointing out why Trump is a threat to democracy. But they dismiss Trump’s unwarranted name-calling of Biden and every Democrat as “radical Marxists and fascist thugs.” Among the StormTrumpers who have explicitly exploited the shooting are prominent Republican members of Congress. For instance…

• JD Vance: “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
• Mike Collins: “Joe Biden sent the orders.”
• Ronny Jackson: “Trump-deranged Left wing LUNATICS that parade around MSNBC and other FAKE NEWS “outlets” demonizing Trump and calling him Hitler are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for this violent attack on President Trump’s life!! They have BLOOD on their hands.”
• Marjorie Taylor Greene: “Someone just tried to ASSASSINATE President Trump. The Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today. […] President Trump said “FIGHT,” SO WE WILL!!”

And that’s not all. Republicans have also quickly pivoted to make political hay of the event, boasting that, as a result of the shooting, Trump “just won the election.” And GOP Sen. Mike Lee thinks that Trump should be granted immunity for his own completely unrelated criminal conduct in a call for Biden “to immediately order that all federal criminal charges against President Trump be dropped.”

SEE ALSO: Total Insanity: Trump Says the Supreme Court’s Immunity Decision is a ‘Total Exoneration’

The fact that the shooter was a registered Republican is not necessarily determinative of anything, because there are lots of Republicans who oppose Trump. Including many of his former Cabinet heads and administration staffers. But it does eliminate the right-wing blather about an alleged Democratic shooter.

As for Trump, he sent out a message prior to the Pennsylvania rally that promised that “ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE IN ONE HOUR” and that “I could be making a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT that’s sure to strike FEAR into the hearts of our DEEP STATE ENEMIES.” Those are not exactly the sort of comments that precede a peacefully rally.

Meanwhile, in stark contrast to the MAGA GOP, it is Democrats who have taken the safe and sane approach, calling for unity and the repudiation of violence. Everyone from Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and many more have all said that political violence is unacceptable and offered their prayers for the welfare of Trump and the other victims. President Biden himself made a public statement of concern for both Trump and the state of American politics…

Unfortunately, if the remarks by the Republicans above and others are any indication, the MAGA crowd does not appear ready or able to behave themselves. Hopefully they will have a change of heart. And the Republican convention that begins next week will reveal what course they intend to take going forward.

RELATED STORIES:

• Trump Threatens that His Cult Followers ‘Won’t Stand for It’ if He is Sentenced for His Crimes
• Fox News Fans the Flaming Lie that Biden Sought to Assassinate Trump During Search of Mar-a-Lago
• Wannabe Dictator Donald Trump Accuses President Biden of Running a ‘Gestapo Administration’

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