WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for “highly inflammatory language” he said inspired an alleged weekend assassination attempt at his Florida golf club, as the Republican nominee moved quickly to capitalize politically on the incident.

The would-be gunman “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “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.”

Trump did not provide evidence for his claims, but the remarks emphasized how the Republican nominee planned to seize on the latest dramatic turn in one of the most chaotic presidential campaigns in modern political history. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Law enforcement has not released details about the possible motivations of Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year old suspect arrested after the incident. An account on the X social media platform that appeared to belong to Routh contained an erratic and eclectic collection of posts, including messages supportive of candidates across the political spectrum and a call for foreign soldiers to defend Ukraine.

Still, Trump’s efforts to pin the alleged assassination attempt on his Democratic opponents underscored his eagerness to reset a presidential race being fought on a razor’s edge — and help Trump turn the page from a bungled debate against Harris that had given the Democratic nominee the momentum.

Trump specifically blamed Democrats for casting him as a “threat to democracy” - while saying Harris and Biden were “the real threat.”

“They do it with a combination of rhetoric and lawsuits they wrap me up in,” Trump said in the Fox interview. “These are the things that dangerous fools, like the shooter, listen to — that is the rhetoric they listen to, and the same with the first one.”

The incident seemed certain to quickly pivot national attention away from Tuesday’s debate performance. Trump and his surrogates had spent recent days mired in controversy after the former president, without evidence, promulgated a conspiracy theory during the heavily-watched contest that immigrants in an Ohio town were eating cats and dogs.

And before hitting the golf course, Trump took to social media to declare flatly that he hated pop star Taylor Swift, days after the singer announced her endorsement of Harris. The storylines — combined with post-debate polling that showed voters breaking toward the Democratic candidate — left the impression of a teetering campaign.

The Florida episode, however, offered an opportunity for a reset — and for Trump to once again rally some of his most ardent supporters by declaring his resilience in the face of persecution.

Some of Trump’s allies were quick to respond. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, in a statement, said Americans “must unite behind him in November to protect our republic and bring peace back to the world.”

“We must ask ourselves how an assassin was allowed to get this close to President Trump again?” Stefanik said. “There continues to be a lack of answers for the horrific assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and we expect there to be a clear explanation of what happened today in Florida.”

Most congressional Republicans simply posted gratitude for the president’s safety, while calling for an end to political violence. Democrats took a similar tack, decrying political violence and thanking law enforcement.

“The service needs more help and I think the Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more services,” Biden told reporters Monday.

“They’re deciding whether they need more personnel or not,” he added.

Harris in a social media post on Sunday said she had been “briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe,” adding that “Violence has no place in America.”

Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and vocal critic of Trump, signaled that Congress was prepared to give the U.S. Secret Service any additional resources it needs to protect the former president.

“Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable. The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, & lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day,” Khanna wrote on X Sunday.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries Sunday called for the alleged shooter to “be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The bipartisan congressional task force established after the Pennsylvania shooting said it would also investigate the Florida incident. Both campaigns continued sending fundraising requests and did not announce plans to suspend political advertisements or candidate travel.

“MY RESOLVE IS STRONGER AFTER ANOTHER ATTEMPT ON MY LIFE!” Trump wrote later in the night in a text to supporters.

Motive sought

The political resonance of the incident may depend on what details emerge about the suspect in the case.

According to law enforcement officials, Secret Service officers clearing the golf course ahead of Trump spotted a man in the woods with a gun and opened fire. The suspect — later identified as Routh — fled in a black car but was later detained after a chase.

Police said they recovered an AK-47 style rifle on the scene, along with a digital video camera and two backpacks with ceramic plates that could be used as body armor. But the officials said they would wait to release more information about the suspect and his background until formal charges were filed.

The New York Times reported that Routh told the newspaper in a 2023 interview that he had traveled to Ukraine in support of its effort to fend off Russia’s assault and that he wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there.

In the Pennsylvania case, law enforcement officials haven’t been able to establish a particular political motive behind 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempted assassination.

But following the shooting, the Secret Service has acknowledged increased concern over political violence. Trump’s protective detail was also increased earlier in the year due to threats emanating from Iran toward the former president. The Secret Service further increased resources for Trump after the Pennsylvania incident.

Polls show that Trump’s advantage over President Biden improved slightly in the aftermath of the July attempt on his life, which became the centerpiece of his speech at the Republican National Convention a week later.

But the long-term impact was difficult to measure with the whirlwind of political events, headlined by Biden’s catastrophic showing in the first presidential debate and his subsequent decision to drop out and endorse Harris as his successor. On Sunday, Harris held a 49% to 47.3% advantage in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

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(With assistance from Myles Miller and Akayla Gardner.)

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