After Trump assassination attempt, a reckoning over political rhetoric

A day after former President Donald Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally, political leaders call for less heated rhetoric.

BUTLER, Pa. — A day after the shocking assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the nation is left wondering whether the political polarization that has gripped the country has grown too severe.

Condolences and calls to turn down the rhetorical heat poured in from across the country and the world as leaders of all political stripes expressed shock and horror at the first shooting of a U.S. president since Ronald Reagan was nearly killed more than 40 years ago while leaving a hotel in Washington.

“We’re all Americans, and we have to treat one another with dignity and respect,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview Sunday on NBC News’ “Weekend Today.” He went on to echo the blame that Trump allies are placing on President Joe Biden, who used the word “bullseye” on a campaign call with donors last week.

“I mean, I know that he didn’t mean what is being implied there,” Johnson said Sunday about Biden’s comments, but added, “That kind of language on either side should be called out.”

Violent rhetoric has become a more familiar part of political campaigns in recent years, as has sometimes violent clashes between protesters, counter-protesters and police. But assassinations have not been seen in American politics for decades.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-shoooting-rhetoric-motive-rcna161763

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