Republicans waste no time in blaming Democrats, Biden and DEI for the shot taken at trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/14/trump-rally-shooting-timeline/

You might think that political leaders, their donors and their media-minions would take this moment to talk about the need for national unity and rise against the scourge of guns and gun violence. You would expect them to not so quickly start milking this event for political points and trashing the opposition.

You might expect Democrats to do so if they faced a similar situation; you would hear calls to stay dignified and not post CTs or news from unreliable sources. But republicans care two hoots for such norms. Here is a sample of ugly statements from republican leaders (not from some isolated creeps on twitter), designed to send their supporters into a frenzy of anger and hate.

J.D. Vance on twitter-  “Today is not just some isolated incident. 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.”

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama retweeted Vance’s remarks.

Ron Johnson on CNN — "Well, there are political figures, their political groups. I would argue that's what identity politics is about, that's what critical race theory is about, so there are people who are purposely trying to divide us for political advantage."

MJT of twtitter — “They wanted this to happen. They’ve wanted Trump gone for years and they’re prepared to do anything to make that happen.”

Mike Collins (R-GA-10) on twitter — “Joe Biden sent the orders.”

Mike Collins (R-GA-10) on twitter — “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination.”

Boebert (tweet by Kyle Clark) — “Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tells 9NEWS that "Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting.””

Prominent Pennsylvania Republican and former Senate candidate Sean Parnell on twitter - “I was at the rally and near Trump and the attendees who were shot. It happened because of this sort of BS rhetoric from [Biden] & the rest of your party,” while retweeting a post from Biden calling Trump “a genuine threat to this nation.”

Charlie Kirk on twitter — “Democrats on X are upset that the shooter missed Trump.”

Musk on twitter — “The head of the Secret Service and the leader of this security detail should resign.” There is a lot of chatter on twitter about blaming the secret service.

Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream (from twet by Aaron Ruper) — “Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream tries to blame Trump's shooting on Democratic rhetoric. Even RNC Chair Michael Whatley urges her to pump the breaks on politicizing this.”

Matt Walsh on twitter blaming women of the secret service — “The director of the agency is a woman. The people on video looking frantic and clueless are women.” Lots of tweets blaming DEI.

Russia blames Joe Biden’s administration for ‘provoking’ Trump attack — www.telegraph.co.uk/...

And of course, each of these posts is followed by hundreds of ugly replies from trump supporters, reverberating in the far-right echo chamber.

There are few neutral statements from republican leaders, most of them praising God for his special attention to trump, none mentioning guns or calling for national unity.

This is asymmetric political warfare. Always has been between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans rarely play by the rules. Lies, gaslighting, CTs, accusations, projection, victim-playing, propaganda, mass-hysteria, blaming minorities, blaming “antifa”, ... — these are the tools of their choice.

How do you think Democrats should respond while staying true to our values?