Trump reaping what he sowed — and he 'can't be surprised if there's blowback': analysis

Prominent conservative journalist and author Mona Charen says President Donald Trump invited the high risk of assassination and violence that dogs him today.

“Look, when you incite violence and, and normalize violence, you can't be surprised if there's blowback on you too,” Charen told a panel including MS NOW anchor Katy Tur. “I mean, that is the culture that has been created. And, you know, I think back to the 2015 2016 era where a lot of conservatives consoled themselves, choosing Trump by saying, well, we're not electing a pastor. You know, I don't approve of his personal morality, but, you know, we need a fighter and all of that sort of language. And the fact is that his character did matter.”

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in particular, delivered a personal plea for additional security funding for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with Barrett using a hearing before Congress to address personal threats directed against herself and her family.

Tur asked Charen to square that moment with Trump being the target of people “who have tried to kill him now multiple times.”

In the wake of new reporting showing that Iran was plotting another assassination attempt against Trump, Charen brought up incidents of Trump and his family encouraging the kind of violence that Trump now fears.

“One of the most horrific moments in recent American politics was when (former speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked by a hammer-wielding assailant, and Trump's sons made fun of him online,” said Charen. “I mean, any sense of decency, any sense of — ‘you know our hearts go out to the Pelosi family. None of that. I mean, it was the most grotesque kind of celebration of violence. And, and, and it's true that when it comes from the top, when it comes from Trump, it definitely has a more corrosive effect on the culture.”

Charen also referenced the death of a pharmaceutical company leader allegedly by Luigi Mangione.

“There was a lot of cheering also for him and people saying, ‘well, the guy had it coming,” said Charen. “That, too, is an example of how we're defining deviancy down in our society and saying that if the if the right victim is chosen, then you can applaud political violence.”

She said Trump has changed American and made it more brutal since the time of John McCain.

“Look at the contrast between the clip you played of John McCain, who you can have your disagreements with him, with the man, but he was a decent person who upheld certain standards,” Charen insisted. “He was a leader. Okay? He grabbed the microphone away from that woman when she started expressing racist ideas (About Barack Obama) and contradicted her. Now, in the Republican Party, she'd be a speaker at the RNC.”

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