President Donald Trump’s push to blame political violence on his opponents faltered Monday when a reporter pressed him with examples of right-wing attacks on Democrats. The president has sharply escalated his rhetoric against “the left” in the days since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week in Utah.
On Sunday, he told reporters the problem comes from the opposite side of the aisle. “If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” Trump said. “When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place—that’s the left. That’s not right.”
But at Monday’s White House press conference, CBS News’ Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes presented Trump, 79, with a list of incidents where Democrats were targeted by violence.
“Given the killing of [Minnesota Democrat] Melissa Hortman, the attack on [former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband] Paul Pelosi, the attack on [former Arizona Democrat] Gabby Giffords, the attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, why make the case that violence is only on one side?” Cordes asked.
Trump tilted his head and answered, “I didn’t say it’s on one side,” before adding, “but I say the radical left causes tremendous violence, and they seem to do it in a bigger way.” He continued, “The radical left really causes a lot of problems for this country. I really think they hate our country.”
When pressed further about his plans to counter the “radical left,” Trump deferred to deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who stood beside him in the Oval Office. Miller responded that the administration would target those “paying for violence,” repeating points he had made earlier on Charlie Kirk’s talk show, hosted by Vice President JD Vance.
Both Miller and Trump appeared to conflate political violence with protests such as the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and June’s anti-ICE rallies in Los Angeles. Trump launched into a tangent about protesters using “beautiful, brand new hammers” to smash concrete, apparently recalling one Los Angeles protest.
The president also faced questions about why he did not order flags lowered to half-staff after Hortman’s assassination, as he had following Kirk’s killing. “Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that. But the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” Trump said.
Later, CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins noted on X that Trump had previously dismissed contacting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, saying it would “waste time.”