Bomb Threats Used To Excuse Trump Attack Were Hoaxes
In the wake of a second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, NBC News’ Lester Holt controversially connected the incident to unproven bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio, suggesting that Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric was fueling political violence. He referenced the bomb threats occurring simultaneously with Trump’s claims about Haitian immigrants in the area. However, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine confirmed that all bomb threats were hoaxes, dismissing their validity and indicating they originated from overseas.
Other media figures, such as CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and USA Today’s Rex Huppke, also implicated Trump in inciting political violence through his statements. O’Donnell asserted that Trump’s comments directly impacted the threats in Springfield, while Huppke accused him of remaining passive amidst the chaos linked to his rhetoric. The New York Times’ Peter Baker further suggested a timeline in which Trump’s vilification of immigrants coincided with threats against public buildings in Springfield and an attempted attack on Trump himself, drawing a contentious parallel between threats and assassination attempts.
a narrative emerged among some media commentators suggesting that Trump’s rhetoric was not only irresponsible but potentially dangerous, contributing to an environment of fear and violence that led to both bomb threats and attempts on his life.
Within hours of the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sunday, NBC News’ Lester Holt tried to excuse the political violence by linking Trump to unsubstantiated bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio.
“Today’s apparent assassination attempt comes amid increasingly fierce rhetoric on the campaign trail itself,” Holt said. “Mr. Trump, his running mate JD Vance, continue to make baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in [Springfield] Ohio. This weekend, there were new bomb threats in that town.”
But Republican Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed Monday that all 33 bomb threats were hoaxes.
“Thirty-three threats; 33 hoaxes,” DeWine said. “None of these had any validity at all.”
“We have people unfortunately overseas who are taking these actions,” he added, according to the New York Post. “Some of them are coming from one particular country.”
But Holt wasn’t alone in making the egregious and unsubstantiated connection to try and justify political violence.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell claimed Trump is the real source of violent rhetoric, bringing on a reporter to link Trump to the fake bomb threats.
“Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for inflaming political rhetoric, but the former President’s own words seem to be increasing the threat of political violence in Springfield, Ohio. That’s where a false and ugly accusation against Haitians — thousands of whom are legal and permanent residents — is impacting every day life,” O’Donnell said before bringing in a reporter to talk about the bomb threats.
USA Today’s Rex Huppke also lamented that Trump correctly pointed out Democrats’ use of inflammatory and assassination-prep type language “while he sits idly by as Springfield, Ohio, suffers bomb threats and school evacuations over his outrageous and racist lies about legal Haitian immigrants.” Huppke also falsely stated Trump’s recent comments highlighting the migrant crisis in Springfield “led to repeated bomb threats.”
The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote that “within days of … Trump vilifying immigrants on national television … someone began threatening to blow up schools, City Hall and other public buildings, forcing evacuations and prompting a wave of fear.”
“Days later,” Baker immediately follows up, “authorities said, a man who described himself online as a disaffected former Trump supporter made his way with a semiautomatic rifle to the former president’s Florida golf course, evidently looking to take a shot.” Baker later goes on to compare “bomb threats and attempted assassinations” as though an entirely fictitious “threat” is somehow comparable to Trump nearly being murdered.
Jonathan Chait tried to justify the continued use of assassination prep language (like calling Trump a threat to democracy) by linking Trump to the alleged Springfield bomb threats in a piece in the Intelligencer.
“In recent days Trump has been telling wild lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. These inflammatory claims have resulted directly in bomb threats that have forced the closings of schools and community events.”
To be clear, mainstream media wants you to believe that memes inspired by Trump’s comments on the migrant crisis in Springfield undoubtedly led to bomb threats (which turned out to be part of a hoax) all the while insisting their own relentless rhetoric calling Trump “Hitler” and a “threat” to democracy had no role in the second assassination attempt against him.
Even though the would-be assassin parroted the Democrats’ false claim that Trump is a threat to democracy, the media linked Trump to fake bomb threats to shift the blame for the assassination attempt away from the left and their provocative rhetoric. Ironically, it’s this exact type of inflammatory conjecture — that Trump was responsible for alleged bomb threats — that further fans the flame of violence.
Every single member of the propaganda press that falsely linked the unverified bomb threats in Springfield to Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, owes the American people an apology for their further incitement in such a fragile moment in American history.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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