Politico: He just won the election… Trump’s path to the White House is easy
Every cloud has a silver lining… In this example, the Republican reaction to the shooting of US presidential candidate Donald Trump while giving a speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania can be summed up.
In Congress, Republicans already believe that the shooting at the rally on Saturday night made Trump’s path easier to return to the White House.
Rep. Derek Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin, told the newspaper in a short interview, shortly after the shooting, “Trump survived this attack, but he just won the election”.
Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, also pointed to photos and videos of Trump, which went viral online, and said what happened “will reinvigorate al Qaeda more than anything else… He, Trump, lifts his fist in the air and doesn’t want to leave, and scream, killer, killer, killer… That would be the slogan”.
Politico also noted that the shooting, which many Republican lawmakers immediately described as an “assassination attempt,” sends shockwaves into an “already turbulent election”.
That’s because Democrats — who have been battling over the possibility of electing President Joe Biden and have only united in their criticism of Trump over the past two weeks — quickly silenced their attacks on the former president.
Republicans, who remained silent amid the Democratic squabble, were quick to blame the opposition party’s rhetoric for the attack on Trump.
Trump was shot in the ear by gunshots while giving a speech.
Video footage showed Secret Service and police escorting Trump to a car as he raised his fist in the air.
It was later revealed that the shooter had been neutralized by the Secret Service.
