{"id":2595977,"date":"2026-04-28T07:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-reject-call-to-soften-rhetoric-after-whca-shooting\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T07:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:31:34","slug":"democrats-reject-call-to-soften-rhetoric-after-whca-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-reject-call-to-soften-rhetoric-after-whca-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats reject call to soften rhetoric after WHCA shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-reject-call-to-soften-rhetoric-after-whca-shooting%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2595977&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Democrats pushed back on the Trump management\u2019s call to reset the political tone after an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner.In interviews,they argued that blame should be directed inward rather than toward Democrats,saying Trump and Republicans also contribute to rising political violence.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute followed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt\u2019s claim that a \u201cleft-wing cult of hatred\u201d helped incite the attack, citing past remarks by prominent Democrats-including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries referring to an \u201cera of maximum warfare\u201d in the context of redistricting. Jeffries said political violence is unacceptable but dismissed the criticism, calling Leavitt and the White House hypocritical, and pointing to Trump\u2019s pardons related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Other Democratic leaders similarly argued that comparing their rhetoric to Trump\u2019s is inappropriate, noting that Trump\u2019s language is often more confrontational.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats also stressed that the attack was tragic and should not be used as a trigger for immediate partisan blaming. The article notes the attempt was the third against Trump in nearly three years,<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >recalls earlier assassination attempts<\/a> during the 2024 campaign,and lists other incidents where political figures have been targeted or killed or investigated as victims of violence.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>Democrats rebuffed calls from the Trump administration on Monday to lower the political temperature after the attempted assassination of President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"17568\">Donald Trump<\/a> at the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\">White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of interviews with the <em>Washington Examiner,<\/em> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democratic-party\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democratic-party\">Democrats<\/a> argued that Trump and Republicans needed to look internally before placing the blame on them for the increase in political violence.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/4544960\/congress-trump-white-house-ballroom-shooting\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Congress responds to WHCA attack with five separate bills to build Trump\u2019s ballroom<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/4545210\/thomas-kean-return-medical-absence\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Kean says he will be back on Capitol Hill \u2018very soon\u2019 after unexplained medical absence<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/4544957\/hakeem-jeffries-trump-whca-attack-democratic-rhetoric\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Jeffries shrugs off White House claim Democratic rhetoric fueled Trump attack: \u2018I don\u2019t give a damn\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cThey should look in the mirror,\u201d said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). \u201cBy the way, in a democracy, violence is never acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The comments came after White House press secretary <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/karoline-leavitt\/\">Karoline Leavitt<\/a> said on Monday that the \u201cleft-wing cult of hatred against the president\u201d had incited the attack. Leavitt, in particular, highlighted comments that high-profile Democrats had made in the past as proof they were responsible for the rise in political violence. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis political violence stems from a systemic demonization of him [Trump] and his supporters by commentators, by elected members of the Democrat Party, and even some in the media,\u201d Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing on Monday.\u00a0\u201cThe left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed, and it almost did so again this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leavitt, in particular, highlighted comments that high-profile Democrats made in the past, including one last week by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) saying America was in an \u201cera of maximum warfare\u201d when it came to redistricting.<\/p>\n<p>Jeffries responded to the criticism publicly while talking to reporters at the Capitol. The New York Democrat said <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/political-violence\/\">political violence<\/a> is \u201cunacceptable,\u201d but also admitted he was unconcerned \u201cwith so-called criticism from these phony Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stand by it,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou can continue to criticize me for it. I don\u2019t give a damn about your criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeffries went on to say that Leavitt was a \u201cdisgrace\u201d and \u201cstone-cold liar\u201d and the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/news\/white-house\/\">White House<\/a> had no right to \u201clecture us about civility\u201d given Trump\u2019s pardoning of the individuals who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. One of the individuals pardoned was later <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3858199\/mike-johnson-blames-democrats-political-violence-jan-6-rioter-threatens-hakeem-jeffries\/\">charged with threatening Jeffries\u2019s life<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet lost, clean up your own house before you have anything to say to us about the language that we use,\u201d said Jeffries. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/4544957\/hakeem-jeffries-trump-whca-attack-democratic-rhetoric\/\">JEFFRIES SHRUGS OFF WHITE HOUSE CLAIM DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC FUELED TRUMP ATTACK: \u2018I DON\u2019T GIVE A DAMN\u2019 <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Other members of the Democratic leadership echoed the sentiment. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you look at what leader Jeffries says, that\u2019s pretty tame. If you look at what Donald Trump says, it is quite violent often. And so you cannot equate the two,\u201d House Democratic Vice Chairman Ted Lieu (D-CA) told the <em>Washington Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Democrats have long claimed that Trump\u2019s willingness to attack political opponents has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-to-target-radical-left-groups-after-charlie-kirk-assassination\/\" title=\"... to target &#039;radical-left&#039; groups after Charlie Kirk assassination\">fueled political violence<\/a>, while Republicans have claimed that Democrats\u2019 \u201cTrump derangement syndrome\u201d and their claims that the GOP is a threat to democracy have done the same.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is the case that right now, there\u2019s an unacceptable level of intensity around our politics and look, the fact of the matter is, when I see what happened on Saturday night, it\u2019s a sad day for America,\u201d Rep. Gabo Amo (D-RI) said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody should be celebrating with that, but I hope that my colleagues, instead of immediately pivoting to the sort of blaming, let\u2019s like practice what we preach and I hope that comes from the highest office of the land, because that matters, that sets the tone for everybody,\u201d Amo continued.<\/p>\n<p>The attempt on Trump\u2019s life at the correspondents\u2019 dinner was the third in nearly three years. The president faced two assassination attempts as he campaigned for the White House in 2024, one of which resulted in him being shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4545032\/injured-secret-service-five-shots-cole-trump-assassination-attempt\/\">INJURED SECRET SERVICE AGENT FIRED FIVE SHOTS AT COLE DURING TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivan-sascha-sheehan-opposition-protests-in-iran-look-to-the-future-not-the-past\/\" title=\"Ivan Sascha Sheehan: Opposition Protests in Iran Look to the Future, Not the Past\">high-profile political figures<\/a> have also been victims of political violence. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in Utah last September while speaking on a college campus. Last June, Minnesota Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed as well. <\/p>\n<p>In April 2025, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and his family survived an arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s mansion by an antisemitic assailant. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi\u2019s (D-CA) husband was beaten at his home by an intruder with a hammer in October 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats rejected Trump\u2019s calls to cool tensions after the WHCA attack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4027,"featured_media":2595978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-collage-cpr5coeyv-1777338175402.jpg?1777325609&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3685,41902,35049,3950,78715],"class_list":["post-2595977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-democrats","tag-gun-safety","tag-political-violence","tag-rhetoric","tag-white-house-correspondents-association-whca-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-collage-cpr5coeyv-1777338175402.jpg?1777325609&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4027"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595977"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2595981,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595977\/revisions\/2595981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2595978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}