MSNBC host Alex Witt questioned whether former President Donald Trump’s campaign will call for “toning down the rhetoric” after a shooting outside his golf club Sunday.
Shortly after initial reports of shots being fired outside Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the “Alex Witt Reports” host asked whether Trump’s campaign would urge his supporters to begin “toning down the violence.”
“Do you expect there to be calls from within the Trump campaign to do that?” Witt asked at the time. “Because he will reach out to his supporters and say let’s take this down. We do not know the source of any gunshots or gunshots. We do not know who is responsible for this. The whole thing has yet to be 100% confirmed from start to finish how this all played out.”
He continued, “But do you expect to hear anything from the Trump campaign about toning down the rhetoric? Toning down the violence? Or would that be atypical of the former president?”
MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan remarked, “Well, remember back to the assassination attempt from President Trump’s life and how there was talk of a new tone and the Republican convention was, by Trumpian standards, muted, and it did seem like he was trying to take it down a few notches. But then by the end of the convention speech, we were back to where we started.”
She continued, “I don’t know how long this moment of unity for the country where we come together and say, ‘I don’t want any political opposition to be under threat of violence. We don’t want that.’ I would love for us to have a unity-type moment, but I think it is probably going to be fleeting, as we have seen in the past.”
Jordan also wondered whether people on “both sides of the aisle” would work to “take the temperature down.”
“How have we gotten to this point when the demonization of the other side … it is no longer politics. It has gotten bigger than that, the calls for violence, the violent rhetoric, and look at what happens. This heated rhetoric can only go so far before, unfortunately, it has led to violence on both sides of the aisle. So I think it is something that Democrats and Republicans have to be very cognizant about. What can we all do to take the temperature down?” Jordan said.
Here’s what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:
- Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.
- Trump sent out a statement to supporters soon after to report that he was “SAFE AND WELL.”
- The suspect — identified as Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii — was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump at a chain link fence on the edge of the course, where he had an AK-47 and a GoPro camera set up, apparently to record the planned shooting.
- Routh has a history of supporting progressive causes online and has made 19 donations to Democratic candidates since 2019.
- A Secret Service agent spotted and opened fire on Routh as he put his gun through the fence. The suspect fled and was arrested on I-95 a short time later.
- According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Trump’s security detail was lighter because he isn’t a sitting president — despite the previous attempt on his life in July.
Fox News Digital reached out to MSNBC for a comment.
Initial reports of the shooting described two individuals targeting one another and that Trump wasn’t the target. However, as new information came forward, the FBI released a statement saying the incident appeared to be another assassination attempt on the former president.
The suspect has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, law enforcement sources confirmed to Fox News. He was allegedly armed with a rifle when agents fired at him.
He was able to push the muzzle of his gun through the chainlink fence outside the golf club, authorities said.
He was 300 to 500 yards away from Trump. Secret Service spotted Routh and opened fire.
Routh was able to get way, but was later stopped by authorities and arrested.
Two backpacks and a GoPro camera were found in the area he fled, and a rifle was recovered from the bushes outside the golf course.
The incident comes approximately two months after an assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
