The Albany Gazette - Trump and team renew attacks on adversaries after gala shooting

Less than 48 hours after Saturday's incident, at which thousands of journalists were present, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was blaming the alleged assassination attempt on "systemic demonization" by Trump's opponents.

"The left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed, and it almost did so again this weekend," Leavitt told a briefing.

"Those who constantly, falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points, are fueling this kind of violence," she added.

At the same time, Trump and his wife Melania were lashing out at television comedian Jimmy Kimmel, a long-term target of right-wing ire, calling for him to be sacked over a joke about the first lady.

"I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel's despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

"Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC," he said, referring to ABC's parent company Disney.

It was a perhaps predictable end to any hopes that Trump might halt his own vitriolic and often incendiary language against opponents, immigrants and journalists.

During more than a decade in politics Trump has pushed all the barriers of presidential language.

The media are a favorite target for the former reality TV star, who has repeatedly branded reporters "the enemy of the people." Trump has often responded aggressively to female journalists in particular, calling one "piggy."

- 'Disgrace' -

Trump has also pardoned those accused of violence, including hundreds of rioters who raided the US Capitol in a bid to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

And in recent months alone, Trump has said he was "glad" that Robert Mueller, the former FBI chief who led the "Russiagate" probe, was dead -- and threatened Iran that a "whole civilization will die tonight."

After Leavitt's comments -- delivered as she took a brief break from maternity leave -- Trump's Democratic opponents hit back.

"This so-called White House press secretary wants to lecture America and lecture us about civility? Get lost," Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, told reporters.

"Clean up your own house before you have anything to say to us about the language that we use."

Just days earlier, it seemed things could be about to change.

Trump had taken an unusually reflective tone in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, which Leavitt said was the third attempt on his life in two years.

Still dressed in his tuxedo as he addressed journalists after the incident, Trump admitted he had been about to "rip" the press in his speech -- but instead he spoke almost philosophically about America's polarized politics.

"I saw a room that was just totally unified," Trump said, saying there was a "a tremendous amount of love and coming together" and even thanking the head of the White House Correspondents Association, which hosts the annual dinner.

The next day, he was back to his old self.

"You're a disgrace," he told CBS journalist Norah O'Donnell on the 60 Minutes program when she read extracts of a purported statement from the shooting suspect that mentioned a "pedophile" and a "rapist", without naming Trump.

"I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person... You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes."

(D.Lewis--TAG)