Following a week of right-wing terror, President Donald Trump insists he bears no blame for the violent attacks and has instead pointed the finger at the “fake news” media for stoking “anger” across the U.S.
Trump sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Monday to discuss the recent string of attacks, including that by Florida man Cesar Sayoc, who mailed a number of pipe bombs to prominent Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as CNN’s New York office. Despite the fact that Sayoc was an avid Trump supporter and went so far as to deck out his van with threatening images of the president’s adversaries, Trump argued Sayoc was “insane a long time before.”
Donald Trump criticized the media for linking his name to the MAGAbomber, despite the bomber being an avid supporter of his. (Fox News / video screenshot)
The president also doubled down on his use of the words “globalist” and “nationalist.” He lauded his own personal definitions of the terms and ignored calls from critics to tone down his divisive rhetoric.
“To me, I don’t have to clarify. It means I love the country,” he said of the word “nationalism.” “It means I’m fighting for the country.”
“I look at two things: Globalists and nationalists,” Trump added. “I’m somebody who wants to take care of our country because for many, many years, our leaders — you know this better than anybody — our leaders have been more worried about the world than about the United States, and they leave us in a mess.”
After discussing his plans to visit Pittsburgh after a deadly attack on a synagogue that left 11 people dead over the weekend, the ex-“Apprentice” star made sure to note the shooter
“wasn’t a Donald Trump fan because I was too close to Israel.” He then shifted his focus to attacking Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, who he dubbed a “stone cold thief.”
“His city, Tallahassee, is known as the most corrupt in Florida and one of the most corrupt in the nation,” Trump said of the Black mayor. “He’s a disaster, and how he’s even close to being tied (with opponent Ron DeSantis) is hard to believe.”
Gillum responded to the attack on Twitter, writing, “I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.”
Watch more in the video below.
