Former President Donald Trump on Sunday leaned heavily on allegations of electoral fraud and At a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, he appeared to call for violence against members of the press, ending an almost decade-long streak of attacks on the media.
Speaking about the bulletproof glass placed in front of the former president’s chair, he said that in order to hit him with a bullet in an assassination attempt, the shooter “would have to shoot through fake news, and I don’t think that’s too bad. “
“I’ve got a piece of glass here, I don’t have a piece of glass there, and I’ve got this piece of glass here,” Trump said, pointing to the glass around his lectern that has become commonplace since his two-time survival. assassination attempts earlier this year, including one at a similar outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“All that’s out there is fake news,” Trump added. “And someone had to spread fake news to get me. And I don’t mind it that much.”
At the beginning of the rally, Trump blasted the media by telling his supporters that “the media is very bad.” It’s incredible.”
He also named several media outlets, telling attendees: “It’s one thing that CNN and MSNBC are crooked as hell. See CBS. Look what CBS did,” Trump said last month before blasting the network for an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris on “Face the Nation.” that he repeatedly He said it was unfairly edited to paint Harris in a positive light. On Thursday, the former president filed a lawsuit networkHe claimed the interview with Harris was misleading.
Later in the rally, Trump said: “ABC, ABC, fake news, CBS, ABC, NBC. In my opinion, these are serious corrupt people.”
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung defended the former president’s comments on Sunday, saying: “President Trump spoke glowingly of two assassination attempts on his life, including one that came less than 1/4 inch from killing him. What the media is constantly talking about and joking about.”
Cheung added: “The president’s statement about putting up the protective glass had nothing to do with harming the media or anything. It was about threats against him stemming from the dangerous rhetoric of the Democrats. In fact, President Trump was saying that the media was in danger because they they protect, and therefore they should have bought a glass protective shield themselves, it is much more than their own well-being!”
Trump’s attacks are part of a long-running trend of attacks on the media that he has made public since his first presidential bid in 2016.
At that time he referred to members of the press such as “dishonest”, “no good people” and “dog” during press conferences and campaign events.
The former president’s comments on Sunday came during a lengthy speech in which Trump attacked Harris.corrupted“President Joe Biden,” he called itpoor, stupid boy,” and slammed former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama.
“I took on a mess because I took on a mess like Barack Hussein Obama [left]Trump said at a rally on Sunday, adding that Obama is a “major troublemaker,” a “great divisive” and a “terrible president.”
Trump also told the crowd: “I think we’re going to start having a little fun with Michelle.” “I think we’re going to have some fun with Michelle, but I’ve always had a lot of respect for her.”
A spokeswoman for the Obamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the start of the rally, Trump focused on criticizing the way the election was conducted, sharpening his attacks on mail-in voting and election security at the end of the period some Republicans often advocate for early voting.
The former president has widely criticized the American election process, calling for one-day voting and paper ballots, raising doubts about the process of counting ballots on Election Day and beyond.
“I just heard that a few states can go an extra 12 days. How the hell do you run an election? You know, spending all this money on these damn machines and paper ballots, you’ll have an answer by nine o’clock tonight. It’s a damn, damn shame,” Trump said, adding, “You’ve got to finish the election by nine o’clock, and now I hear it’s going to take weeks.”
Trump too repeated baseless claims He slammed widespread election fraud in states like Pennsylvania and said the upcoming election was “all about the lawyers.”
“Every polling booth has hundreds of lawyers. It’s all about lawyers. All standard lawyers. Nobody should have that. You have to have a damn ballot and hand it in,” the former president said.