Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Newsmax on Tuesday that left-wing media outlets such as MSNBC and CNN must stop inciting political violence by referring to former President Donald Trump as an existential threat to democracy.
The Secret Service on Sunday foiled a second assassination attempt on Trump in two months while the former president was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"The problem is that the left has become so self-righteous about this that they have justified in their mind that he is somehow so evil," Paul told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "Even though normally they're not violent, and normally they love everyone, and they have heart emojis next to their name on their Twitter handle, but this time is an exception because Donald Trump is an existential threat.
"So, they're parroting exactly what the Harris and Biden campaigns say. They're parroting CNN and MSNBC. If they want to be responsible people, and they don't want to have a death on their hands, these left-wing outlets need to stop inciting crazy, violent people in our country. It's time that it ends, and we need to call them out because they immediately then blame the victim for the problem. They're blaming Donald Trump for his own assassination [attempts]. They are encouraging angry and emotionally unstable people to commit violence, and they need to stop."
Paul is no stranger to political violence, having been assaulted by a neighbor while he was mowing his lawn at this home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2017, leaving Paul with multiple broken ribs. Paul later underwent lung and hernia surgeries that he linked to the attack.
On Monday, only a day after the assassination attempt against Trump, Hillary Clinton didn't hesitate to fan the flames by telling MSNBC, "I don't understand why it's so difficult for the press to have a consistent narrative about how dangerous Trump is."
"The left continues to incite this kind of behavior between the networks, CNN, MSNBC, and others, as well as politicians like Hillary Clinton," Paul said. "They're not voicing disagreements with policy. They're not having a policy debate. They're describing Donald Trump as dangerous. They're describing Donald Trump as threatening democracy, threatening your right to vote, the idea that certain people of certain classifications or even ethnicities would not be allowed to vote under Donald Trump.
"None of that's true. But it's inciting people to anger. It's inciting people to feel like, really, there's no hope through elections, we have to do something to protect elections. We're going to have to commit ourselves to violence. And I do blame the left. And what does the left do? They immediately blame Donald Trump for people trying to assassinate him. They say it's his fault. Well, no, it is the left's fault. And they've been doing this for quite some time. … They need to stop before something happens that's irreversible."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE -- See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com