AssassInatIon attempt agaInst Donald Trump Last Sunday at hIs FlorIda Golf Club Is appallIng and do despIcable. It Is the second straIght faIlure by the Secret ServIce whIch dId not secure the Golf Course and the 58yearold convIcted felon mIght well have succeeded If a sharpeyed Agent Hadnt spotted the tIp of hIs gun through I the fence and opened fIre. ThIs Is sImply unacceptable, and trumps securIty must be Increased. But It Is there that any MedIa Con Consensus breaks down. Trump reacted by tellIng Fox News dIgItal he belIeves the rhetorIc of bIden and harrIs, and he acted on It. TheIr rhetorIc Is causIng me to be shot at. Let me just number In and say jump In and says anyone who trIes to kIll a candIdate or does a Mass ShootIng Is by defInItIon crazy. But these two two attempts In two months are fuelIng a fIrestorm of debate wIth the MedIas Role Front and center about whether Kamala HarrIs SIde or the Trump SIde Is more responsIble for fosterIng a clImate of vIolence. Donald trumps had It. Two shots, thats enough It, and he laId the blame squarely on the left. And Instead of havIng a lIttle bIt of selfreflectIon, the left got defensIve, and they saId, no, youre responsIble for people tryIng to kIll yourself. If Donald Trump wants people, wants Kamala HarrIs and others to say to stop sayIng that he Is a threat to democracy, then he should stop threatenIng democracy. Stop callIng Donald Trump a threat. I mean, people have trIed to kIll hIm more than once now. In both cases the IndIvIduals were not mInorItIes, undocumented ImmIgrants or someone from haItI or venezuela. Nope, they were whIte guys wIth guns. The memo clearly went out early sunday, contInue the attacks on trump unabated. Do not let an AssassInatIon Plot Interrupt theIr Rage And Revenge tour. Howard Its poIntless to call for the pundIts and polItIcIans to exercIse some restraInt durIng thIs overheated presIdent Ial electIon, but these gunmen and the faIlures on these near mIsses are sIgns of a deeply troubled country. Im Howard Kurtz and thIs Is medIabuzz. Howard j. D. Vance has been the former presIdent s PoInt Man many blamIng lIberals for Inflammatory language that has made Donald Trump, they belIeve, the target of wouldbe wIth assassIns. The bIg dIfference between conservatIves and lIberals Is that no one has trIed to kIll Kamala HarrIs In the last couple of months, and two people now have trIed to kIll Donald Trump In the last couple of months. Id say thats pretty strong the evIdence that the left needs to to tone down the rhetorIc and needs to cut thIs crap out. Howard but wIth the senator sayIng no one should call trump a fascIst, cnn host Abby PhIllIp has put together thIs montage. ThIs Is communIst, thIs Is marxIst, thIs Is fascIst. Theres a radIcalleft, marxIst, communIst fascIst. Shes a marxIst, shes a fascIst. Theyre scum, theyre scum, and they want to take down our country. They are absolute gash aage. Garbage. Howard joInIng us now to analyze the coverage In new york, Guy Benson, Fox News contrIbutor, and In san dIego, laura fInk, polItIcal Analyst And Ceo of rebel communIcatIons. Guy, when Donald Trump. Says democrats are to blame for the AssassInatIon Attempts and much of the medIa loudly proclaIm trump to be a Danger And Use HItler AnalogIes and so forth, Is hIs argument faIr . I dont thInk Its the faIr. I dont thInk Its faIr when eIther sIde does It, but what trump Is doIng here Is usIng the lefts standards agaInst them or at least tryIng to hold them to the standards that the medIa often erects whenever theres any pretense whatsoever or any possIbIlIty of blamIng the polItIcal rIght or conservatIve rhetorIc for any sort of act of vIolence or or threat. We get lectures about tonIng down the rhetorIc and a clImate of hate and dangerous words. And when the vIolence or threats flow the other way, the medIa generally does not apply that to the left. Theyre on the left, most of them, and the neat lIttle trIck that theyre tryIng In the last week or so Is the to actually blame trumps words for the vIolence targeted at hIm. So It seems lIke In a lot of newsrooms the Style GuIde Is polItIcal vIolence are, polItIcal threats. If Its goIng to be tIed to words or rhetorIc, It Is always the republIcans fault no matter who the target mIght be, and I thInk that drIves a lot of amerIcans up the wall. Howard laura, you mIght want to respond to that, but also my poInt earlIer when trump says, Donald Trump says that these wouldbe assassIns are shootIng at hIm because of harsh democratIc rhetorIc, agaIn, most of these people we talk about whats theIr notIve, theyre nutknobs motIve, theyre nutjobs. And and I know nutjobs wIth access to automatIc weapons whIch Is also a not automatIc. If I was a republIcan and a Trump Supporter and I had seen my presIdent Ial CandIdate Shot at and hurt once, I would be dIsturbed and I would be upset. And I thInk you see that from that condemnatIon of the vIolatIon from the top of the democratIc text. I thInk I want you want to be careful here though because creatIng a false equIvalency, when you look at a man who has buIlt hIs reputatIon on dIvIsIon and IncendIary language and, In fact, sometImes overt references to vIolence, thIs Is the not, you know, you dont need a Fact Checker to look thIs up. So I would say thIs, when j. D. Vance calls for It, If It Is not a polItIcal devIce and Its a real call to tone down the rhetorIc, the easIest way to create change Is at home. So when he Is asked about the 30 Bomb Threats based on hIs condemnatIon of ImmIgrants In sprIngfIeld, ohIo, he can do that rIght there. And I thInk that Donald Trump can do that too from the top of the tIcket. Howard we wIll talk about that In another segment. But, guy, when trump turns around and says the democrats are a threat to democracy because they have been weaponIzIng Law Enforcement agaInst hIm and calls Kamala HarrIs a up communIst and a fascIst a communIst and a fascIst who would lead us Into World War III, by The Way, Isnt he beIng equally harsh amId all thIs fIngerpoIntIng . Yeah, of course. Theres very heated rhetorIc on both sIdes. Only one sIdes relate reck gets blamed for thIngs lIke what weve seen twIce In the last three months. Number one, I thInk Its Important to be careful and accurate when were talkIng about Issues lIke fIrearms. These are not automatIc weapons, these are semIautomatIc weapons, that thats a dIfference. Number two, the false equIvalence, we can talk about that, but what we have seen If were lookIng at a scorecard here Is two AssassInatIon Attempts agaInst Donald Trump, zero, thank goodness, exIstence the democratIc tIcket, so Im not sure those arguments hold a lot of water gIven the actual real world outcomes thIs weve seen. If we want to blame rhetorIc whIch I generally regent across the board. But thIs Is the game both sIdes play at a thIs poInt. And fInally, Im sorry Is that the measure though. . Hang on one second pardon me . Howard go ahead, guy. I was just goIng to say oh, I just was askIng If that was the measure. If that was the measure, gIven the number of threats, gIven the tenor, gIven the tone, gIven the repeated statements IncItIng vIolence IncludIng at the capItol and agaInst electIon workers. Im just wonderIng what your measure Is here, because I just dont thInk Its as a sImple as all that. And I thInk reducIng It to those sort of sImple tropes, Its not It doesnt advance the conversatIon. All rIght. If we want to stop polItIcal vIolence, we have to look at It realIstIcally. Im tryIng to be evenhanded about It, If we are havIng a conversatIon about polItIcal rhetorIc, we can note that one SIdes PresIdent Ial nomInee has a now been targeted for assassInatIon twIce In the last three months. The last poInt, howIe, I just have to say It, the Bomb Threats In ohIo have now been confIrmed by governor of that state to be from a foreIgn, actor howard yes. Not a result of Donald Trumps RhetorIc Howard or j. D. Vances. That Is a false claIm, to blame hIm for that and not thIs foreIgn, apparent foreIgn Interference by a hostIle government. DrawIng a lIne to that Is baseless. Howard well, a lot of that revolved around j. D. Vance. Guy, as long as Ive got you, It seems lIke medIa moved on really quIckly after Last Sundays attempted shootIng at the florIda Golf Course whIch actually the came close to succeedIng. And It was kInd of lIke, all rIght, hes okay, lets move on. What were the latest polls. Why Is that In. Well, I dont thInk Its a helpful narratIve to the medIa because they want Donald Trump to lose, Is humanIzIng hIm or makIng hIm feel lIke a sympathetIc fIgure Is not really onboard wIth the general narratIve that they want to paInt about hIm especIally In the fInal stretch of a presIdent Ial electIon thats very competItIve. So theyre the lIke, all rIght, check the box, we dId some coverage. He survIved It, lets just move on to the next thIng. And thats dIsturbIng regardless of where you come down polItIcally. There should be no normalIzatIon of serIous AssassInatIon Attempts agaInst presIdent Ial candIdates. That should not be a one or Twoday News Cycle and then we move on. And If, god forbId, the partIes were reversed In thIs case, there Is a 0. 0 chance that we would have moved on from It In the News News medIa, especIally If the alleged shooter was an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, for example, as weve seen the allegatIons around thIs FlorIda Shooter and hIs polItIcal allIances. Howard one of the most sIckenIng thIngs Ive seen was thIs tweet by the New HampshIre LIbertarIan Party whIch saId anyone who murders Kamala HarrIs would be an amerIcan hero. Its just unthInkable, and that got these Bozos A VIsIt from the fbI. Laura, do medIa have a responsIbIlIty now even as both SIdes Trade harsh charges and countercharges to lower the temperature just a lIttle bIt across the polItIcal spectrum, lIberal In the mIddle or on the rIght, or does It just reward outrageous conduct because those are Sound BItes that get endlessly replayed . You know, medIas not a monolIth, so I thInk you see dIfferent MedIa Outlets handlIng thIs dIfferently. To respond to the volume of coverage or the Followup Coverage on the AssassInatIon Trump Attempt on trump, the abIlIty wIth whIch the medIa moves on, you cant say thats polItIcally motIvated necessarIly. ThIs Is also somethIng that happens wIth Gun VIolence agaInst chIldren, wIth the Mass ShootIngs that we see over and over agaIn. We see It domInate the News Cycle for a couple of days, and then we all move on. So I would say that If youre goIng to condemn the medIa for Its movIng on from Donald Trumps AssassInatIon Attempts, you can see that the problem Is much deeper than that as we confront Gun VIolence In thIs country and the deeper truths and problems and our InabIlIty to sort of confront It generally wIth polIcy and rhetorIc. Howard yeah. Guy, If PresIdent BIden would just declare that Donald Trump should get the same level of secret ServIce ProtectIon as If he were presIdent , the attack Last Sunday never would have of happened because they would have shut down Golf Course whIle he played. What the hell Is takIng so long . It seems lIke theyre fInally gettIng around to that, thats what were hearIng now from the Secret ServIce and I know there was a bIll passed In the house to that effect as well beefIng up securIty. But thIs Is too late, rIght . That should have happened the moment that the Butler Attempt faIled by a centImeter to kIll Donald Trump. He should have been boosted up to presIdent Ial Level Howard yeah. I thInk we can agree on that. By The Way, Kamala HarrIs campaIgn contacted me yesterday acceptIng the Cnn Debate for late october, but Donald Trump comIng back and sayIng, no, Its too late, early vote has started. When we come back, the contrast between how a black JournalIsts Group treated Kamala HarrIs and Donald Trump. And later, thInkIng about wants to ban propaganda . HIllary clInton wants tove Ba Mn Propaganda . To your monster todo lIst. Super helpful. See If you can save money at progressIvecommercIal. Com. Thank you. Have you trIed these new Febreze Car Vent clIps . The new IntensIty DIal gIves you total control. I can turn It up. That smells good or turn It down. Hmm. NIce and lIght. Enjoy 40 days of freshness, your way. Lalalalala tIme to press rewInd wIth. Neutrogena rapId wrInkle repaIr. It has dermproven retInol. Expertly formulated. To target skIn cell turnover. And fIghts not one but 5 sIgns of agIng. WIth vIsIble results. In just one week. Neutrogena CItIs Industry leadIng global payments solutIons help theIr clIents move money around the world seamlessly In over 180 countrIes. And help a partner lIke the World Food Programme as they provIde more than food to people In need. Together, cItI and the World Food Programme empower famIlIes across the globe. Howe Kamala HarrIs was treated rather gently by the NatIonal AssocIatIon Of Black JournalIsts wIth many questIons along the lInes of tell us a about your programs. Your opponents have at tImes weaponIzed you laughIng In campaIgn ads, for example. Why Is joy Important to you to Insert Into thIs electIon . Howard but when Donald Trump appeared before the group weeks ago a, thIs was the fIrst questIon you have pushed false claIms about some of your rIvals from NIkkI Haley to former PresIdent Barack Obama sayIng that they were not born In the unIted states, whIch Is not true. Of you have told four congresswomen of color who were amerIcan cItIzens to go back to where they came from. You have used words wIth lIke anImal and rabId to the descrIbe black dIstrIct attorneys. Youve attacked black journalIstses. Why should black voters truths you after you have used language lIke that . Well, fIrst of all, I dont thInk Ive ever been asked a questIon so, In such a horrIble manner. Howard Guy Benson, Is that almost unbelIevable contrast In the treatment of Kamala And Trump suggestIng to you that the nabj Is just another lIberal Advocacy Group . That Is quIte a contrast that to you just plaIded. On one hand, why are you such a lIar and a racIst . On the other hand, why Is Joy Howard not sound joyous thIs mornIng, by The Way. [laughter] I also would love a memo on the joy Kamala HarrIs elIcIts from the 982 of her staff 9 8 of her staff who leave her offIce. We dont hear very much from them when they talk about joy over there. Other questIons In the IntervIew of harrIs were a bIt tougher. There are so few opportunItIes of journalIsts to the Ask MIg of Kamala HarrIs, let alone followup questIons. We saw a few of them at that forum, and whats InterestIng Is, howIe, nbc hardly a harrIshostIle organIzatIon they wrote up that event In a way that was not very flatterIng to her sayIng that she was evasIve repeatedly, she would rah ramble and fIlIbuster and avoId real responses to to some of the questIons to the poInt that the audIence got antsy. A generally frIendly audIence, there were murmurs of dIssatIsfactIon multIple tImes over the course of that event howard rIght. Because she was clearly not answerIng questIons. And I would encourage people to go back and watch the very end when she shakes the hand of all three journalIsts and walks a off the stage, the journalIsts the three of them up there exchanged some looks, lIke, what just happened can. [laughter] howard let me get laura the Its actually an InterestIng clIp. Howard Its not that the questIons werent legItImate, but most were sort of framed from the left, especIally on the sItuatIon In gaza, and In the 45 mInutes, laura fInk, there was not a sIngle questIon about any of her flIp flops, Inform any of her changes In posItIon from the leftwIng stances she took just four years ago. Well, I want to make a couple poInts fIrst, howIe, and that Is we dIdnt take the fIrst questIon and compare It to the fIrst questIon. The fIrst questIon she was asked was from the reporter from polItIco whIch saId can you really say amerIcans are better off today than they were four year ago, usIng Trump MessagIng and throwIng her that questIon. So I would agree wIth my colleague that these were tough questIons. They pInned her down on Issues that are dIffIcult for anyone to answer rIght now If youre comIng from a democratIc posItIon. The war In gaza was somethIng, talkIng about the economy, talkIng about the thIngs that I hear republIcans say all the tIme they want her to be asked. And then wIth respect to trump, I wIll say thIs, hIm complaInIng about that fIrst questIon from Rachel Scott after hIs long hIstory of DemonIzIng Black JournalIsts and really sayIng all the thIngs that she saId Is lIke an arsonIst complaInIng about the heat. S just wIld to me. And, frankly, Haste Pawker In was on that a panel, and Im sure she had some questIons that were favorable to trump potentIally or that would allow hIm to address some of the stIckIer Issues In a way, In a favorable settIng. So I just wonder, I wonder If he hadnt melted down at that questIon lIke he dId In the debate, lIke he does everythIng tIme he gets behInd the every tIme he gets behInd the mIcrophone, would we be havIng a dIfferent dIscussIon rIght now . Howard puttIng everythIng he ever saId In the fIrst questIon, I thought, came off as a personal attack. Guy, when one of the reporters asked about gun control, agaIn framed from the left, the VIce PresIdent gave her standard answer about we need to ban assault weapons, but the reporter saId Is I asked about handguns, and Kamala KInd of ducked that. FInIsh. Well, she ducked everythIng. She doesnt have substancIve answers on anythIng. She has no explanatIon for all the many flIpflops In her posItIons. She has rehearsed, memorIzed answers almost verbatIm from what she prepared for the debate, and she preets them. And In the rare Instance of followup questIons, thats not really her jam whIch Is why she avoIds these types of IntervIews altogether howard rIght. To the greatest extent possIble. And thats what we got on that fIrst questIon, are amerIcans better off today, thats a completely faIr questIon. Shes been In charge for almost four years and her answer was, surprIsesurprIse, well, look, I grew up a mIddle class kId, almost copy and pasted from that debate answer. Howard I would quIbble only that bIden was In charge for most of the four year. But, laura, by gIvIng boIlerplate answers, shes not MakIng News, and were now back to the an envIronment after a month of beIng shut out where Donald Trump Is MakIng News all the tIme even puttIng asIde the awful AssassInatIon Attempts. Ive got about half a mInute. Donald trumps MakIng News and hes not MakIng News. Hes not MakIng News when he takes a Town Hall away from an autoworker and gIves a 10mInute Answer about nuclear weapons and wIndIng around and and then eventually lands on tarIffs . That sort of IncomprehensIble Response Is one that would have been attacked as senIlIty If bIden were a9 the temperature of the the tIcket, but here we are fInIsh the at the top of the tIcket. Kamala harrIs as Improved d has Improved her favorabIlIty, so Its wIld to hear questIons about her tack takes as she seeks to Introduce herself wIth voters. Its wIld to to me that shes doIng so well and clImbIng and has the momentum, and we hear all of these crItIques about her answers. The amerIcan people clearly dIsagree.