Another assassination attempt on Trump. Another wave of hypocrisy

Good morning. It is Wednesday, Sept. 18. Here’s what’s happening in Opinion.
Over the weekend Donald Trump was the apparent target of a second assassination attempt as he played golf at his West Palm Beach, Fla., club. Who knows what might have happened had the Secret Service not spotted the suspected gunman hanging out at the edge of the course before he could take a shot or even get a line of sight.
Unsurprisingly, Trump and his allies immediately put the blame for the incident on Democrats since they will not stop talking about what might happen if a self-proclaimed wannabe dictator wins the White House. “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at,” the former president complained in an interview with Fox News Digital — adding, with no apparent irony, that Democrats are destroying the country.
“We cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist, and if he’s elected, it is gonna be the end of American democracy,” Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said after the incident. But it’s OK to say one candidate is a fascist — and a Marxist and a communist — and if she’s elected it will be the end of the country? Because those are accusations routinely hurled at Vice President Kamala Harris by Trump.
If there were such a thing as a hypocrisy meter, it would have hit 11 this week.
If Trump and Vance really want to tone down rhetoric, as they say they do, they should lead by example and apologize for repeating the shamelessly racist (and ridiculous) urban legend that Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s pets. The Springfield city manager and even the state’s Republican governor and Trump supporter say this is an unfounded rumor. Since Trump said “They are eating the dogs…. they are eating the cats” at the presidential debate, the city has received at least 33 bomb threats that have shut down government buildings and schools, and Gov. Mike DeWine is preparing to send in state troopers to protect residents of the city.
Oy. Just seven more weeks until Nov. 5 is in our rearview mirror.
The rhetoric of Harris and Biden isn’t what’s sparking political violence. Here’s why. Trump and his defenders argue again that the Democrats’ “threat to democracy” rhetoric is the reason for now two recent attempts on the former president’s life. It’s a problematic argument, says columnist Jonah Goldberg, because they “are not against allegedly violence-inciting, rhetorical extremism, they’re against such rhetoric deployed against Trump. Similar rhetoric targeting Biden and Harris is just fine.”
Trump talks tough on Russia now, but as president he bowed to Putin. Columnist LZ Granderson writes that Vladimir Putin seized Ukrainian ships and sailors in 2018, and then-President Trump did nothing. The Kremlin then knew that it could get away with more aggression.
Can legitimate campus protest be distinguished from antisemitism? This guide aims to help. UCLA professor David N. Myers and USC professor Nomi M. Stolzenberg explain how they were part of a group of scholars who collaborated to come up with a way for academics and administrators to determine what is antisemitic and what is not in the context of current protests about Israel.
New! More ballot recommendations for the Nov. 5 election. The Times editorial board continues to roll out endorsements in local and state races. This week, we have added three endorsements for the Los Angeles City Council.
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