Within hours of the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sunday, NBC News’ Lester Holt tried to excuse the political violence by linking Trump to unsubstantiated bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio.
“Today’s apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail itself,” Holt said. “Mr. Trump, his running mate JD Vance, continue to make baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in [Springfield] Ohio. This weekend, there were new bomb threats in that town.”
But Republican Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed Monday that all 33 bomb threats were hoaxes.
“Thirty-three threats; 33 hoaxes,” DeWine said. “None of these had any validity at all.”
“We have people unfortunately overseas who are taking these actions,” he added.
But Holt wasn’t alone in making the egregious and unsubstantiated connection to try and justify political violence.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell claimed Trump is the real source of violent rhetoric, bringing on a reporter to link Trump to the fake bomb threats.
USA Today’s Rex Huppke also falsely stated Trump’s recent comments highlighting the migrant crisis in Springfield “led to repeated bomb threats.”
The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote that “within days of … Trump vilifying immigrants on national television … someone began threatening to blow up schools, City Hall and other public buildings, forcing evacuations and prompting a wave of fear.” Baker later goes on to compare “bomb threats and attempted assassinations” as though an entirely fictitious “threat” is somehow comparable to Trump nearly being murdered.
To be clear, mainstream media wants you to believe that memes inspired by Trump’s comments on the migrant crisis in Springfield undoubtedly led to bomb threats (which turned out to be a hoax that originated overseas) all the while insisting their own relentless rhetoric calling Trump “Hitler” and a “threat” to democracy had no role in the second assassination attempt against him.
Ironically, it’s this exact type of inflammatory conjecture — that Trump was responsible for alleged bomb threats — that further fans the flame of violence.
Every single member of the propaganda press that falsely linked the unverified bomb threats in Springfield to Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, owes the American people an apology for their further incitement in such a fragile moment in American history.