ABC’s Martha Raddatz Singles Out Republican Rhetoric For Ire In Wake of Attempted Assassination of Trump

ABC News chief global affairs anchor Martha Raddatz took heat on social media Sunday over her report on ABC’s This Week about Saturday’s attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, during which she highlighted political rhetoric as divisive — but only rhetoric from the right.

Raddatz also defended President Joe Biden against accusations that his rhetoric has been divisive.

Host George Stephanopoulos began by asking Raddatz about her experiences talking to “voters in our deeply divided nation.”

“In some ways, this is horrific symptom of the underlying division in this country,” he said.

“It certainly is, George, and I’m sure that will probably continue,” Raddatz replied before seeming to suggest that Trump could be inviting violence with his response to the attack.

“We saw President Trump raise his right hand as Jon just described and we’ve seen those pictures. But we could all also see him say what I believe was fight, fight. That was his first instinct,” she said. “And this is a country divided, this is a country, we saw the violence yesterday, the horrific violence yesterday, and we’ve seen it in places.”

Raddatz then cast doubt on the idea that Republicans are sincere about calls for unity while defending Biden against any suggestion his own rhetoric is divisive or might incite violence.

“We’ve heard President Trump say he wants the country to come together to be united. But others are directly pointing the finger at President Biden, with, of course, no evidence that he incited this or — or had anything to do with this assassination attempt,” she said. She added, “We do not know the motive of the shooter.”

Stephanopoulos then asked whether “President Trump and his supporters have – have contributed to this violent rhetoric as well,” though, since at no point in the report had any violent rhetoric been attributed to anyone other than Trump, it’s not clear what “as well” was meant to suggest.

At that point, Raddatz attributed sins to Republicans but made no mention of Democrats on the subject of rhetoric, at which point the report ended with no quotes from any Democrats, nor did anyone suggest during any other part of the show that the blame was on both sides, or that Democrats should tone down their rhetoric, or quote any Democrats previously making statements, although several more instances of saying those things about Republicans rounded out the show.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s bring our chief global affairs anchor Martha Raddatz.

And, Martha, I know you’ve traveled around the country talking to voters in our deeply divided nation right now. In some ways, this is horrific symptom of the underlying division in this country.

RADDATZ: It certainly is, George, and I’m sure that will probably continue. We saw President Trump raise his right hand as Jon just described and we’ve seen those pictures. But we could all also see him say what I believe was fight, fight. That was his first instinct.

And this is a country divided, this is a country, we saw the violence yesterday, the horrific violence yesterday, and we’ve seen it in places.

And we’ve also seen this morning, we — we’ve heard President Trump say he wants the country to come together to be united. But others are directly pointing the finger at President Biden, with, of course, no evidence that he incited this or — or had anything to do with this assassination attempt.

We heard JD Vance, Senator JD Vance, who is one of the leading picks for vice president in a tweet say: This is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.

Again, there is no evidence of that. We do not know the motive of that shooter at this point.

And others also, Ramaswamy, Vivek Ramaswamy saying President Biden’s ritual condemnation of political violence are insufficient. No amount of verbiage today changes the toxic national climate that led to this tragedy.” Saying that, “Trump’s safety is nothing short of an act of God.” And I think you’ll see a lot of supporters thinking the same thing.

We also, George, we have to point out, no matter who the shooter – what the shooter’s motives were, no matter who the shooter is, you are going to hear conspiracy theories going forward.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No, no question about that. But as you point out those statements from J.D. Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy, of course, President Trump and his supporters have – have contributed to this violent rhetoric as well.

RADDATZ: Well, absolutely, George. We were just looking back this morning at some of the things that former President Trump has said. He warned last March of potential death and destruction if he were charged by the Manhattan district attorney. “Our country is being destroyed as they tell us to be peaceful.” Trump, in January, warned of bedlam in the country if the criminal charges against him succeeded.

And, of course, in March, he said, now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole (ph). That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country. That will be the least of it.” He said he was partly joking and that that was taken out of context. But those are, indeed, his words.

And you have heard it from supporters as well, and supporters are certainly, in some parts, angry. And let’s remember January 6th. In so many ways for the campaign, January 6th will probably be in the background after yesterday’s event. This is a very difficult time for this campaign. I’m sure this week in Milwaukee that President Trump will highlight this and President Biden is going to have to figure out how to go forward with his campaign and what exactly they say.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Martha Raddatz, thanks very much.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.