Trump at higher risk of assassination than other former presidents thanks to 'public enemy' rhetoric: expert
Former President Trump's two assassination attempts in recent months are unique to him as inflammatory political rhetoric spirals during the 2024 election, a security expert says.
The threat against former President Trump is unique to him and far higher than anything facing the other living former presidents as inflammatory political rhetoric has consistently portrayed him as "public enemy number one for democracy," a security expert told Fox Digital.
Trump has faced a pair of assassination attempts in just over two months – one on July 13 and one on Sept. 15 – with the first incident resulting in a would-be assassin injuring the former president and killing a rally goer, firefighter Corey Comperatore. There have been no known recent attempts on other former presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama or Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice care since February 2023.
"We're getting a lot of hatred on both sides, and a lot of these comments that really do – like I said – embolden people to think that they're going to ‘fix the problem,’" said Gene Petrino, a retired SWAT commander for Florida's Plantation Police Department for 26 years and an expert on active shooter incidents who spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. "‘They can't let this happen. We can't lose our freedoms. We can't lose this.’ And I'm not picking sides, and I have seen both sides do it. But unfortunately, Trump has been labeled as public enemy No. 1 for democracy."
Petrino added: "He's just got a higher footprint, so to speak, of who would be assassinated," among former presidents.
Trump was safely escorted from his golf club in West Palm Beach on Sunday afternoon when a man identified as Ryan Routh allegedly directed the muzzle of a rifle through a chain-link fence toward where Trump was located on the green. Routh was arrested shortly after while trying to flee in his car and authorities are investigating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt.
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The incident marks the second attempt on Trump’s life in just a few months. Trump was shot in the ear in July while holding a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting, which was carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, left two rally attendees injured, and Comperatore was fatally shot while protecting his family.
Petrino said he has not heard of any plots against the other former living presidents, but that the Secret Service should take the second plot against Trump into consideration as they protect the other presidents.
"Right now, they have had two [attempts] within a couple of months of each other. There's something going on, and we better really start tightening up what we're doing across the board. Not just for Trump, but really for everybody," he said, arguing Harris and Biden are also targets, but that Trump has a "higher footprint" as a target among former presidents, specifically.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Clinton, Obama and Bush inquiring if there is any heightened concern following the second attempt on Trump and if their security has increased, but did not receive replies.
The Secret Service told Fox Digital that it "elevated" its security around its "protectees" following the first Trump assassination attempt when asked about security measures surrounding the former presidents on Tuesday.
"Following the events of July 13, the U.S. Secret Service elevated the protective posture for our protectees and bolstered our protective details as appropriate in order to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for those we protect," the Secret Service told Fox Digital. "Due to operational security, we cannot comment on the specific means and methods used for our protective operations."
Security expert and former NYPD officer Bill Stanton added during an interview with Fox Digital that the "perfect storm of heightened rhetoric" surrounding the election cycle has made Trump a top target by people who become "self-radicalized" by inflammatory rhetoric.
"You have these keyboard warriors. It's like a drug. They go out, and they spew all their hate and venom online," he said. "[The internet] has allowed these people, for them to stew in their own psychosis. And then, when that drug doesn't become enough, now you see it going from like ‘The Matrix’ from the cyber world into the real world."
The morning following the attempt, Trump spoke to Fox Digital and pinned blame for the second attempt on Democrats' rhetoric.
"[The suspect] believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it," Trump said in the interview. "Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out."
"It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat," Trump added.
Petrino said that in his opinion, the attempts on Trump are "unique" to the 45th president.
"[Trump] is the opposite of every politician, and he's really going against the grain of a lot of people," Petrino said. "… The divisiveness in our country right now on the political spectrum is way out of control. The rhetoric that is said on both sides has got to stop. It perpetuates these kinds of things from happening and emboldens these people that might not be mentally capable to have any critical thinking on things, to say, 'Oh, I'm going to be the savior and save democracy.'"
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Fox News Digital pored through Routh’s social media on Sunday evening, before his accounts were suspended, and found that he did parrot some political talking points from Democrats, including declaring: "DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose."
"Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA... make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way," an X message posted in April – before Biden dropped out of the race in July and Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.
Harris and Biden have both repeatedly claimed that "Democracy is on the ballot" this year. The White House, Biden and Harris have additionally described Trump as a "threat" to democracy.
During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked if the administration planned to drop using the word "threat" to describe Trump considering the second assassination attempt. Doocy noted in his question that Trump has lobbed similar attacks against Biden and Harris.
"How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump, other than ‘threat?’" Doocy asked.
Jean-Pierre told Doocy she completely disagreed with the premise of his question, calling the way he asked it "incredibly dangerous" because Americans are watching.
"What I have said about the president, the former president, about Jan. 6 is [a] fact that you all have reported. It is [a] fact. When you have a former president who basically says that the election wasn’t the results of the election… when dozens, dozens of more than 60 Republican judges said that it was a free and fair election," Jean-Pierre said. "You had more than 2,000 people who were told to go to the Capitol. It was one of the darkest days of our democracy, one of the darkest days."
"To your point," Doocy added. "There are people watching at home who might miss the part where you say, ‘Let’s lower the temperature,’ and… there are mentally unstable people who are attempting to kill political candidates… attempting to kill Donald Trump. And they are still hearing this White House refer to him as a threat. Is there no concern that people are taking that literally?"
Jean-Pierre pointed to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters breached the Capitol, as an example as to why the administration described Trump as a "threat."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Wednesday for any additional comment on claims heightened political rhetoric caused the second apparent attempt against Trump, but did not immediately receive a response.
Harris and Biden both condemned the attempt on Trump on Sunday, and called him following the incident, and additionally condemned the attempt in Pennsylvania in July.
Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
