The Washington Post’s front page featured a story titled “Biden trains fire on Trump” on Saturday, coinciding with an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The newspaper image was shared by Donald Trump Jr., showing the date as July 13, 2024.
The report centered around President Joe Biden’s (D) “fiery rally” in Michigan where he claimed Trump was “unfit” to serve as president again. Republican political strategist Chris LaCivita shared a digital version of the Post’s front page on social media, urging others to save it.
Former President Trump was injured and rushed off the stage during his rally when shots were heard echoing over the crowd, as reported by Breitbart News. Despite being bloodied, Trump raised his fist in defiance as the crowd cheered him on. The U.S. Secret Service killed the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. One person at the rally was killed and two others were critically injured.
This event marked the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan’s shooting in 1981. John Hinckley Jr., who was in the crowd, was the attempted assassin. Now, President Biden is facing criticism for referring to Trump as a “genuine threat to this nation” two weeks before the assassination attempt. Just before the shooting, Biden likened Trump to “a dictator” in a social media post.
Breitbart News reports that since the attack, which left one bystander dead and two others critically wounded, President Biden’s harsh characterization of former President Trump has been criticized as inflammatory.