In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump’s life, the right in America is trying to perform a not-so-artful con.
They are trying to convince the American public that it’s been the overheated rhetoric from people such as Joe Biden, other Democrats and the mainstream media that is responsible.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson went on CNN with Anderson Cooper to say, with a straight face, that “rhetoric has consequences.” As though Mr. Biden is known for his hateful, violent language. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blamed those on the left who had called Mr. Trump “a tyrant, a dictator, said it would be the end of the U.S. as we know it” if he was elected again, for the shooting.
He then compared the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life to the assassination of Republican president Abraham Lincoln, saying Democrats were saying the same things about Lincoln just before he was shot and killed.
J.D. Vance, Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, sang from much the same script, saying 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.”
It’s like these folks believe Americans are experiencing collective amnesia and have forgotten that Mr. Trump has never shied from applauding attacks, physical or otherwise, on his opponents. Or that he incited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, one that saw violent insurrectionists calling for the heads of then-vice-president Mike Pence and then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Mr. Trump has since vowed that, if elected, he will pardon the “martyrs” who now sit in prisons because of their role in the attack.
It was too much to hope this ridiculous victimhood by American conservatives would remain south of the border and not migrate north. But then, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has seldom shied away from an opportunity to make ludicrous statements that defy belief.
When she was asked Monday at the Premiers’ conference in Halifax about the Trump shooting, she said: “I certainly hope that some of the progressive politicians here are careful of their language, because they’ve been talking about conservative politicians in the same way and they need to dial it down.”
When asked specifically what she was talking about, she said: “Have you not looked at the headlines about how Pierre Poilievre is described as dangerous? How the leader of the Opposition in Alberta has described me as dangerous? When you start using that kind of rhetoric, that ends up creating an elevated risk for all of us.”
This is so rich coming from Ms. Smith it should come with a dietary warning label.
The Premier of Alberta has rarely passed up an opportunity to tell her fellow citizens just how terrible Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is. How he and his acolytes want to destroy the province Albertans love so much. During a public discussion in Edmonton earlier this year with incendiary right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, Ms. Smith complained about federal Liberal environmental policies and then said: “I wish you could put Steven Guilbeault in your crosshairs.” The comment was widely condemned.
Before Ms. Smith ascended to the Premier’s throne, her predecessor Jason Kenney assailed Mr. Trudeau and others around him on a regular basis.
It was little surprise when, in August, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was verbally accosted by a man during a visit to Grande Prairie, Alta. As she approached an elevator with members of her staff, the large, bearded individual started screaming at her, calling her a “bitch” and a “traitor,” and ordered her to leave the province immediately.
It was an ugly, scary scene. There have been others. An armed former Canadian reservist looking to have Mr. Trudeau arrested breached the gates of Rideau Hall in the summer of 2020. We should all be concerned by a report in The Globe this week that the RCMP unit responsible for protecting politicians has been chronically understaffed in recent years.
It doesn’t take violent language by politicians to incite someone, mentally unstable or otherwise, to try and do something horrible to them. All it takes is convincing someone out there that a political figure is responsible for all their problems. They are the reason you can’t afford groceries, can’t buy a home, can’t go on a nice holiday! It’s all their fault!
That language filters down into an ecosystem of like-minded folks on social media who become increasingly agitated and hostile about the world’s, and their own, state of affairs. It’s little surprise when someone decides they can’t take it any more and decides to seek revenge. And politicians are sometimes their targets.