Moments after Donald Trump was rushed to safety following a failed assassination attempt at a Saturday night rally, some of his supporters turned toward the press pen with obscenities as they fingered reporters for blame.
“This is your fault!” one attendee emphatically yelled, pointing at individual journalists as he approached the fence line separating them from attendees. “This is your fault!”
“It is your fault!” exclaimed another.
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Axios reporter Sophia Cai, who quoted some in the crowd warning the press, “you’re next” and that their “time is coming,” even reported that a few rally goers tried to breach the barriers establishing the press pen, but that they were stopped by security personnel.
In the immediate wake of the horrific shooting attempt on Trump’s life, which resulted in the tragic death of one rally attendee and the severe wounding of two others, the news media has quickly emerged among some Trump supporters as a body to assign blame.
While the Trump campaign urged its staff to “condemn all forms of violence” and said it “will not tolerate dangerous rhetoric on social media,” some of the former president’s supporters in MAGA Media vehemently assailed the press for its hard-knuckled reporting on Trump, which has sounded the alarm on what four more years under the former president would look like.
Over the course of the campaign cycle, news organizations have, among other things, reported at length on Trump’s plans to warp the federal government for his own ends, including to seek vengeance against his political opponents. That reporting is now facing scrutiny, with some Trump supporters blaming it for producing a charged atmosphere that gave way to the assassination attempt, while mostly looking past the incendiary rhetoric of the former president himself.
Immediately after the attack, top figures across the news media condemned the shooting, underscoring that violence against a political candidate is an attack on democracy itself. Top liberal commentators also expressed their disgust in strong terms. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the country’s most recognized liberal personality, said she did not “have adequate words to describe how disgusted and horrified” she was.
“There is no *no* *no* *no* violent solution to any American political conflict,” Maddow wrote on Threads. “I am grateful the former president is going to be ok, and miserably sad and angry about the other people hurt and killed. This is a very dark day.”
The reaction from the press and liberal media figures stood in stark contrast to how right-wing media personalities have responded in the aftermath of attacks on Democrats. Instead of raising the volume or fanning the flames of false flag conspiracy theories, which top figures on the right have done after attacks on Paul Pelosi and Gabrielle Giffords, they urged for calm.
Nevertheless, the anti-press attitude in MAGA circles has unquestionably increased. Despite the accuracy of the news media’s reporting on Trump, supporters of the former president have moved to vilify and scapegoat journalists for the heinous attack, sending anti-media attitudes to alarming heights.
“On a daily basis, MSNBC tells its audience that Trump is a threat to democracy, an authoritarian in waiting, and a would-be dictator if no one stops him,” conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote on X. “What did they think would happen?”
Donald Trump Jr. blasted CNN, The Washington Post, and the press at large for recent coverage of his father.
“Dems and their friends in the media knew exactly what they were doing with the ‘literally Hitler’ bullshit!,” he wrote on X.
With just over 100 days until the November elections, the inflamed disposition toward the press has prompted cause for concern among news executives and spurred discussion inside newsrooms about safety and security precautions — especially with the Republican National Convention set to start on Monday. That four-day event, which was already a security concern prior to the assassination attempt, will bring together scores of journalists, alongside thousands of Trump supporters.
“Journalists are always among the very first to run towards a crisis, and we collectively are working in overdrive to keep everyone safe,” one news executive told me. “That is the absolute top priority.”
