The heated rhetoric surrounding former President Donald Trump took center stage at a town hall event in Flint, Michigan. Trump supporters, gathered to hear their candidate speak, blamed Democratic rhetoric for the recent attempts on his life.
The event came on the heels of an incident at Trump International Golf Club in Florida, where a man named Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate the former president. This marked the second time Trump has survived an attempt on his life, following an incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, just two months prior.
“I don’t think gun control is the answer, I think it’s the rhetoric… some of the things that are being said shouldn’t be said,” one voter told Fox News Digital, echoing sentiments shared by many in attendance. Trump himself has attributed the violence to the inflammatory language used by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said about the latest suspected gunman. “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.”
The town hall event, hosted by Trump and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, took place just two months before the November election, where Michigan is expected to be a crucial battleground state. According to the latest Real Clear Politics Polling average, Vice President Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump in the state, a smaller margin than enjoyed by Hillary Clinton and President Biden at similar points in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
The event in Flint reflects the heightened tensions and polarized political climate in the United States, with both sides accusing each other of inciting violence through their rhetoric. As the election draws closer, the intensity of these accusations is likely to continue, raising concerns about the potential for further violence.
