Battleground state voters blame Dems’ ‘toxic’ rhetoric for attempts on Trump’s life

FLINT, Mich. — Voters attending a town hall for former President Donald Trump in Flint, Michigan, blamed rhetoric from Democrats for spurring the two assassination attempts on the former president.

“I don’t think gun control is the answer, I think it’s the rhetoric… some of the things that are being said shouldn’t be said,” one voter attending the Trump town hall told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as Trump held his first campaign event since an apparent attempt on his life at Trump International Golf Club in Florida on Sunday. U.S. Secret Service agents were able to spot the shooter, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, when he was roughly 300–500 yards from Trump, engaging him and causing him to flee the scene.

Routh was captured later Sunday, while Trump was uninjured in the incident.

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“Make American Great Again” hats for sale before a town hall event with former President Donald Trump and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The incident marked the second time Trump has survived an attempt on his life, coming just over two months after the former president was grazed in the ear by a bullet during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump has blamed “rhetoric” by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the violence, arguing that the two would-be assassins have “acted” on “highly inflammatory language” by Democrats.

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News Digital of the latest suspected gunman. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.” 

FBI investigators gather evidence from the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Ryan Routh was arrested earlier this week after allegedly attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump while hiding in the bushes along the golf course. (Mega for Fox News Digital)

Voters in Flint largely echoed Trump’s remarks before his town hall event Tuesday, with one telling Fox News Digital that the “political rhetoric is at an all-time high.”

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“We’ve gotten so toxic in America that we’ve started this war between ourselves, we’ve forgot to love each other,” another voter said.

“Democrats,” added another when asked who was to blame for the attempts on Trump’s life. “They continue to say he’s a threat to democracy for no reason whatsoever.”

The Trump event comes less than two months before November’s election, when Michigan promises to play a critical role in determining the winner once again.

Former President Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on Sept. 17, 2024. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

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Harris holds a narrow lead over Trump of under one percentage point in the state, according to the latest Real Clear Politics Polling average, a smaller margin than what was enjoyed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Biden at similar points in the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.