Conservatives quickly blamed President Joe Biden after former President Donald Trump was injured at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, pointing to Biden’s recent comment that “it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
“Joe Biden sent the orders,” Rep. Mike Collins posted on X, a picture of the quote below. “The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination,” he added.
Biden reportedly made the comment on a call with donors on Monday while discussing his desire to move on from the debate and focus on defeating Trump in the election.
Days later, Trump was removed from the stage by the Secret Service after immediately grabbing his ear when several loud pops sounded during the rally. His campaign said he had been moved to a local facility and was OK. Local law enforcement said the shooter and one rally attendee were killed.
Law enforcement has not revealed any information about the identity of the shooter or their potential motivations.
The “bullseye” comment quickly spread across social media among conservatives.
The official account of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee posted about the same quote: “Joe Biden: ‘It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.’ That just happened.”
Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita shared and then quickly deleted a post about the “bullseye” comment: “well of course they tried too keep him off the ballot , they tried to put him in jail and now you see this …”
And Rep. Lauren Boebert posted about it, too: “‘It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.’ - Joe Biden. Shame on him.”
Republican rage wasn’t reserved for Biden. Sen. J.D. Vance, a potential vice presidential pick, shared a post about Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson suggesting in April that Trump should lose Secret Service protection if he was sentenced to prison for felonies. “Remember this? I do,” Vance wrote. “Kick his ass out of Congress. Absolute scumbag.”
Sen. Rick Scott also referenced the Secret Service protection proposal in a post condemning Democrats and the media. “This isn’t some unfortunate incident,” he wrote. “This was an assassination attempt by a madman inspired by the rhetoric of the radical left.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene placed blame for the shooting on Democrats and the media for the bloodshed in a Truth Social post, then said on X, “Democrats wanted this to happen. They’ve wanted Trump gone for years and they’re prepared to do anything to make that happen.”
She wasn’t alone. Prominent conservative media personality Clay Travis blasted “left wing media” coverage of Trump: “This is on them. They made this happen.”
Short of blaming Biden, members expressed frustration that he didn’t promptly respond to the shooting.
“Biden has been briefed. Yet, he and his White House are still silent. Biden must join us in condemning the political violence, thanking law enforcement, and praying for Trump and our nation,” Sen. Joni Ernst posted on X.
“Cowardly and absolutely abhorrent Biden hasn’t denounced this attack,” Rep. Drew Ferguson wrote.
Sen. Mike Lee went further, calling for all federal and state criminal charges against Trump to be dropped. “We’ve got to take the political temperature down, as evidenced by what happened in Pennsylvania today,” Lee said in a statement with Ambassador Robert O’Brien.
A Biden campaign official told NOTUS that the campaign is pausing outbound communications and removing television ads in the wake of the shooting.
Biden has pushed for stronger gun control measures and condemned past political violence. He released a statement about an hour after the shooting and then held a short press conference to address the incident.
“I’m grateful to hear that [Trump is] safe and doing well,” he said. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
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Ben T.N. Mause is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.