David Frum, a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, is facing backlash for his response to the second assassination attempt against Trump on Sunday. Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, took to social media to suggest that Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, were trying to portray themselves as victims of violence.
Frum’s comments came after Trump’s campaign announced that the former president was safe following gunshots near his location. The FBI is now investigating the incident as a potential assassination attempt.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was quick to respond to Frum’s remarks, calling him “deranged” for implying that Trump was responsible for inciting violence. Trump Jr. shared a screenshot of Frum’s post, which read: “Trump and his running mate have spent the past week successfully inciting violence in Springfield, Ohio. Today they want to present themselves as near-victims of violence — in this case, of violence completely unrelated to themselves and at a very safe distance from themselves.”
According to reports, the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, had positioned himself in the bushes near Trump International Golf Course, where he was allegedly lying in wait for Trump to come into his view. Routh was reportedly armed with an AK-47 and a Go-Pro camera, which he may have planned to use to film his actions.
This is not the first time Frum has faced criticism for his response to an assassination attempt against Trump. In July, he published an article in The Atlantic suggesting that Trump was responsible for his own attempted assassination, which occurred on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident resulted in the death of former fire chief Corey Comperatore and injured two others.
