After a gunman breached security at the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner in Washington, it didn’t take long for a familiar blame game to take over Capitol Hill.
Republicans accused Democrats of stoking violence with their criticism of President Donald Trump. (In writings published by the New York Post, suspect Cole Allen listed “administration officials” as his primary targets.)
Speaking from the White House briefing room on Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “when you have mentally disturbed individuals across the country who are listening to this crazed rhetoric about the president day after day after day, it inspires them to do crazy things.”
But Democrats argue Republicans have no ground to stand on — and are trying to silence legitimate criticism by conflating it with hate speech.
Just hours after Leavitt called out House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat pushed back, calling Leavitt a “disgrace” and telling her to “get lost.”
“We embrace the fact that everybody should take the temperature down,” Jeffries said. But he advised Republicans to “clean up your own house before you have anything to say to us about the language that we use.”
Since Saturday’s incident, the White House and several Republicans have seized on a comment Jeffries made after the successful redistricting referendum vote in Virginia last week, claiming it is an example of the New Yorker being “deranged” and “violent.”
In a social media post, Jeffries said Democrats will pursue “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” in the nationwide redistricting fight.
Never mind that the “maximum warfare” line isn’t original to Jeffries. The line is actually a 2025 quote from an anonymous individual described in the New York Times as “close to” Trump, as this person was talking about the Texas redistricting effort last year.
Still, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., labeled Jeffries’ comments on maximum warfare “ludicrously dangerous and predictable.” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., called on Democrats to hold Jeffries accountable for the “hateful and divisive language.” And Leavitt invoked the phrase from the White House podium Monday.
Asked about the GOP criticism Monday, Jeffries told MS NOW he stands by the comment.
“You can continue to criticize me for it. I don’t give a damn about your criticism,” Jeffries said, adding that the GOP is “big mad” because Democrats have decided to “finish” the redistricting tête-à-tête.
But the moment once again raises the question of how Democrats should confront Trump. And for most Democrats, the answer seems to be a balancing act.
“My focus has been consistently on policies, not people,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told MS NOW. “I challenge the positions and policies on the merits, not individual’s character.”
Several argued there’s a stark difference between criticizing the president — particularly when that criticism is just stating facts — and inciting violence.
“If someone says Donald Trump is all over the Epstein files, which I have said, that is a true statement,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said. “Mentally ill people can take that statement or whatever they want with it, but Democratic members of Congress are not going to be silenced.”
“We’re still going to keep telling the truth,” Lieu said.
Asked about the balancing act, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said Trump has “hired people to put them into cabinet positions who are absolutely incompetent and unable to do their jobs.”
“Those are all simple facts,” she said.
And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said there’s a “bright line” between protected First Amendment speech and not inflaming current tensions.
“It’s important for us to be vocal about when we think something is wrong,” she added. “That is very distinct and very different than trying to incite violence.”
“When you have people committing crimes in office, we have an obligation to say that someone is committing a crime in office,” she said at another point. “That includes the President of the United States.”
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said that while “everybody abhors violence in any form and there’s no place for violence in democracy” — “so let’s just be clear about that,” he added — the administration’s actions warrant pushback.
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“This president is pursuing policies that are hurting my constituents, and so I can’t be silent in the face of that,” he said.
Of course, the president also has a history of incendiary remarks.
In the past year, he’s mocked the death of actor and director Rob Reiner. He said he was “glad” former special counsel Robert Mueller — who led the Russia investigation during Trump’s first term — had died. And he accused a group of Democrats of “seditious behavior” — a crime punishable by death — after they correctly noted members of the military are not supposed to follow illegal orders.
In 2025, he called folks on the political left “scum” and labeled a reporter “evil” for a question about Texas flood alert delays. In 2024, he called certain immigrants “animals.” In 2023, he accused those on the “radical left” of living “like vermin.” And he’s repeatedly mocked Nancy Pelosi’s husband after a home intruder beat him with a hammer and left him seriously injured.
Trump has also reposted a video from a supporter saying, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.” And he has repeatedly called on his supporters to rise up in violence.
Those calls culminated with Jan. 6 — a violent insurrection for which Trump later pardoned or commuted the sentences for everyone involved.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting, and as the ensuing blame game gets underway, some Democrats have been quick to point to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. After the riot, several GOP lawmakers downplayed the significance and severity of the day, with Trump eventually lionizing the jailed defendants as “hostages.”
Democrats say Trump’s rhetoric laid the foundation for Saturday’s shooting.
“I think all of us have to be aware that political violence is on the rise,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said. “I put a lot of it at the feet of the Trump administration for a lot of the things they’ve done: The pardoning of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, the idea that people can get away with things that we live through right here at the Capitol.”
Jayapal, who was not in attendance at the dinner Saturday, said the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner brought back a lot of memories of Jan. 6.
“And so it makes me kind of look at this and say let’s condemn all political violence,” she said. “Let’s not condone people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, refused to put up a plaque that praises the law enforcement that we’re here, but then condemn it when it’s one party.”
Asked by MS NOW about the president’s own rhetoric — and what Trump has done in the past year to rein things in — congressional Republicans repeatedly demurred, arguing it’s up to everyone to help cool the temperature.
“We should consider that there are crazy people listening to us who have no real judgment and who will act out of that crazy and do really bad things,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said. “It’s a responsibility every political leader has. It’s not a Republican or Democrat thing.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., argued the president “did a nice job of responding” in the immediate aftermath of the Saturday incident.
And Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told MS NOW he was not “the guy” to ask about how Trump and the GOP have reined in the rhetoric over the past year.
“I don’t follow social media posts,” he said.
“Saint Paul said, ‘Insofar as possible, live peaceably with all,’” Cassidy added.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.