Trump’s rhetoric has caused violence, not Democrats calling him a threat to democracy

I agree with former President Donald Trump that politicians shouldn’t make false and inflammatory claims that could incite violence. But if Trump wants to see the politician who has made the most such claims, he just has to look in the mirror. 

The Republican presidential nominee has a long history of employing exaggerated and outright false rhetoric against anyone he opposes. Now desperate to boost his chances of victory in the November presidential election, he is ramping up his increasingly hysterical attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and other Democrats, alleging they inspired two failed assassination attempts against him.  

In addition to this absurd charge, Trump has leveled a long list of insults at Harris and dire warnings about disasters that would befall America if she defeats him. 

Trump has said Harris would be a “Marxist communist president,” and  “a fascist.” He also called her (with his strange capitalizations in social media posts) “Dumb as a Rock,” a “GREAT EMBARASSMENT TO AMERICA,” the “WORST Vice President in American history,” “Crazy Kamala Harris,” a “Wack Job” a “LOW IQ INDIVIDUAL,” “grossly incompetent,” a “Radical Left Lunatic” “VERY STUPID,” “FAKE,” and a “STONE COLD LOSER.” 

Trump has also claimed the U.S. would “end up in World War III” under Democratic leadership, said Biden and Harris have “destroyed the economy,” called Democrats a “threat to democracy” and said Harris (whose husband is Jewish) “hates Israel” and “hates the Arab population.” 

Trump even shared a blatantly sexist and disgusting social media post and a video on the site he owns claiming Harris advanced her career by performing sex acts.    

All of these Trump claims are lies and unhinged opinions. If Trump actually believes them, we need to seriously question his mental competency.  

Trump’s false allegations are dangerous, because they could motivate some of his most fanatical and unstable followers to take violent action against Democrats and others he classifies as enemies of our country.  

Think I’m exaggerating? Just remember the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by supporters Trump summoned to Washington to try to keep himself in power he had lost the 2020 presidential election. Trump told his followers that Democrats rigged that election against him and told them to march to the Capitol.   

About 140 police officers were injured in the riot, some seriously. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died a day later after suffering two strokes. One rioter who had breached the Capitol was shot and killed by police, and three other protesters died as well. Four police officers defending the Capitol later died by suicide. 

Since last week, there have been at least 33 bomb threats (mostly from overseas) against schools, health care facilities and local government buildings in Springfield, Ohio, after Trump and his vice-presidential running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets in the city. 

Trump says these Haitians are in the U.S. illegally and promises to deport them, but they are actually in the U.S. legally, under Temporary Protected Status. State police are in the city to prevent violence. 

Trump says Biden and Harris are the ones provoking violence. Trump told Fox News that the man who was arrested Sunday for hiding with an assault rifle at one of Trump’s golf clubs, not far from where Trump played, “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it.”

“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,” he said.  

During his Sept. 10 debate with Harris, Trump said: “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they [Democrats] say about me.” And in an interview with a Washington Post columnist Monday, Trump said: “I really believe that the rhetoric from the Democrats is making the bullets fly. And it’s very dangerous.”

Law enforcement authorities have not identified a motive in the Sunday incident or in the July 13 attempt to kill him at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, Trump was unhurt on Sunday. He received a small wound to his ear in the July shooting.  

Both Biden and Harris have strongly condemned political violence, said they were relieved Trump was okay following both incidents and called him to convey that message. I have not seen or heard of a single Democratic candidate or official calling for violence against Trump or anyone else in our country.  

It’s true that Biden, Harris and many Democrats and Republicans — including more than 100 high-level officials in Republican presidential administrations and former Republican members of Congress — have criticized Trump as a threat to democracy and our freedoms. But their criticisms are valid. 

After all, Trump is facing criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his election defeat, supports new restrictions on voting rights, has made numerous statements about seeking unprecedented powers as president, promises to weaponize the Justice Department to seek “retribution” and imprisonment of his political opponents and plans to fire thousands of federal civil servants and replace them with political appointees if he becomes president. 

Trump opposes federal protections for abortion (leaving the issue up to states), and promises to deport up to 20 million unauthorized immigrants.

In addition, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, written in part by people who have worked for Trump, proposes even more radical changes that would erode our democracy and freedoms. Although Trump has disavowed the report, there’s good reason to believe he will embrace much of it if he returns to the White House. 

Some Trump critics have gone further than Biden and Harris and compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and other tyrants. One of these now former critics was Vance, who called Trump “America’s Hitler” eight years ago. 

Such demonization is over the top. Trump is not going to build death camps to murder millions or launch a war to conquer much of the world. 

Election campaigns are about giving voters a choice of who they want to place in leadership roles in government. Candidates always talk about why they are better qualified than their opponents and combine praise of themselves with criticisms of those they are running against. 

Instead of offering reasoned criticisms of Harris, Trump has reached new lows with hyperbolic lies. Instead of dialing back his inflammatory rhetoric, he is ratcheting it up, while demanding Democrats stop legitimate criticisms of him. 

I’m sure Trump would love it if Harris said he was the greatest leader in world history and had never done anything wrong. He can make Vance say that, but he is delusional if he expects Harris to refrain from legitimate criticism of him while he blasts her with a barrage of lies.

Donna Brazile is a political strategist, a contributor to ABC News and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is the author of “Hacks: Inside the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.”