NO HOLDS PARRED

• On Sunday, former President Donald Trump was about to putt for birdie at his West Palm Beach golf club when Secret Service agents spotted a rifle barrel in a bush about 400 yards away from the Republican presidential nominee. Agents opened fire and eventually caught the suspect, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who federal prosecutors say waited near the golf course for almost 12 hours before the incident. He never had a line of sight on Trump and didn’t fire his weapon, the agency said. Routh’s motives aren’t known yet, though he supported Trump in 2016, turned against him in the next election, and wanted to see a Republican ticket with Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley this time around. No matter, Trump is dialing up the temperature and putting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on blast.

• “He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News on Monday, referring to the alleged shooter, hours after sending out a campaign fundraising email. “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.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that “because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”

• Both Biden and Harris quickly released statements condemning the inciden, saying they’re glad Trump is unharmed. They’ve also regularly denounced political violence since the last attempted assassination against Trump in July, and Harris often strikes a tone of unity and peace on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Trump… has warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses the election and said he’ll become a dictator “on day one.” His rhetoric has fanned the flames among his staunchest supporters: Billionaire conspiracist Elon Musk tweeted that “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” before deleting the post. “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” Musk later explained.

• A bipartisan House task force, which was already investigating the last attempted assassination against Trump, requested that the Secret Service brief the panel on the incident this week. “The Secret Service has responded to our request and we’re working with them to schedule the briefing,” a task force spokesperson told What A Day. House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News that Trump needs more coverage because “he is the most attacked, he’s the most threatened — even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office.” Another safety solution: Stop golfing, like the Secret Service warned.

• Lawmakers are signaling that they plan to give Trump a boost in security: “This gross lapse in security can never happen again,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a member of the House Oversight Committee (separate from the task force), told What A Day. He is calling for Secret Service to speak with lawmakers this week and outline what resources are needed, and for Congress to vote on the measure immediately.

• Because Trump isn’t the sitting president, he doesn’t receive as much security, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said on Sunday. “If he was, we would’ve had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” “So I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter,” Bradshaw said.

After Trump’s July shooting, many Republicans believed it would be smooth sailing to election day. The campaign seems to be attempting to recreate a boost in momentum — but is only revving up his most loyal backers.

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