White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called out Jimmy Kimmel for making a joke about First Lady Melania Trump being an “expectant widow,” as she tied “hateful” rhetoric to Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
Speaking to reporters, Leavitt said that “much of the manifesto of the would-be assassin” is “indistinguishable from the words that we hear daily from some many people.”
She pointed to the first lady’s statement about Kimmel earlier on Monday, in which she called on ABC to “take a stand” against their late-night host. The network has yet to comment.
In his monologue on Thursday, Kimmel did a skit in which he gave an “alternative” White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner routine, pretending that he was speaking to a crowd that included Donald Trump and the first lady, among others. “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel quipped.
“Having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that,” Leavitt told reporters. “This kind of rhetoric about the president, the first lady and his supporters, is completely deranged, and it’s unbelievable that the American people are consuming it night after night after night.”
The suspect, Cole Allen is to appear in court on Monday afternoon to face charges. On Saturday, after shots were fired in the lobby of the Washington Hilton, up the stairs from the ballroom, Secret Service rushed Trump and the first lady, as well as other administration officials, from the dais.
News outlets reported on Sunday on the contents of the suspects writings, including a “manifesto” in which he talked of targeting Trump administration officials.
Leavitt also pointed to rhetoric from Democrats and others in the media, claiming that their rhetoric accusing the president of being a dictatorial figure contributed to an environment that inspired political violence. Trump himself has used harsh rhetoric about his opponents, once claiming that former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Milley was treasonous with a punishment that “would have been death.” He has also called the left the “enemy from within” and the news media the “enemy of the people.”
Leavitt said, “It is the entire Democrat Party has made their pitch to voters across the country that Donald Trump poses an existential threat to democracy, that he is a fascist and that they compare him to Hitler. These are despicable statements that the American people have been consuming for years, and so many mentally perturbed individuals are led to believe these words are truth, and then are inspired to act on it.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings