Former CNN political analyst Chris Cilizza criticized those downplaying the assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump on Monday.
Trump experienced a second assassination attempt on Sunday but was unharmed as a Secret Service agent fired shots at a man with a semi-automatic rifle while he was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
On his YouTube channel, Cillizza stated that minimizing the seriousness of the attempts on Trump’s life undermines “our democracy” and urged people to stop doing so.
'Just Stop': Ex-CNN Analyst Unloads On People Downplaying Trump Assassination Attempts pic.twitter.com/bCUgqZDm0G
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 16, 2024
“I think it is so stupid and counterproductive to spend time trying to downplay the fact that … two times there have been people trying to kill him over the last 90 days. We are not a country in which political violence can be condoned. And just because Donald Trump helped incite Jan. 6 does not make two wrongs equal a right, right?” Cillizza said. “We need to be better than that — not the same or worse. It is a bad thing that twice in 90 days the nominee of one of the two major parties was the victim or the focus of an attempted assassination, period.”
Trump was shot in his right ear during a July 13 assassination attempt at his rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, which resulted in the death of former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore.
Following the incident, some claimed that Trump was hit by glass fragments rather than a bullet; however, the FBI clarified in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president.
Cillizza remarked that those questioning whether Trump was shot “are bringing ourselves down, way down, to a place that we don’t want to be as a nation.”
“Political violence is wrong, period, whether it’s against Donald Trump or anyone else. And yes, the attempt at political violence, even if this guy on Sunday didn’t fire any shots is wrong, period,” he added. “I just think there is so much as it comes to Donald Trump that is legitimate for criticism, for dislike and for a vote against that when you spend your time mired in these waters, you are doing a disservice, not just to yourself but to who we are as a people and to our democracy. So just stop doing it. Leave it be … You beat him at the ballot box, you don’t beat him by violence or the threat of violence.”
After the second assassination attempt on President Trump, it is time for Christians, left and right, red or blue, Black and white, to come together, to pray for this nation, to pray for a political process without any violence.
It is what America needs. We need believers on… pic.twitter.com/NDVznhmFt8
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) September 15, 2024
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, arrested on Sunday in connection with the second assassination attempt, appears to have previously donated to Democrats while living in Hawaii, according to federal campaign finance records.
