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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies in the Kremlin have already begun pushing propaganda about the shooting this weekend at a Donald Trump rally.
A top Kremlin official argued without evidence that an assassination attempt that killed a spectator and injured two others was the fault of President Joe Biden and his allies.
For now, there’s little information on the gunman's motivations, and the FBI has said that it has not yet determined his underlying ideology or motive.
Nonetheless, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “the atmosphere that has been created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around the candidate Trump, prompted what America is facing today," according to the Russian state media outlet TASS.
Business Insider reported on Peskov’s extended comments, which echoed claims made by some Republican lawmakers, including Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, who also alleged, without evidence, that anti-Trump rhetoric was to blame for the shooting.
Peskov said, according to Business Insider:
“After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena using legal instruments at first, courts, the prosecutor’s office, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in jeopardy,” Peskov said on Sunday, referencing Trump’s conviction in his Manhattan hush money criminal trial on May 30.
Still, Peskov added that Moscow does not believe the assassination attempt "was organized by the current authorities."
Back here in reality, of course, the blame for Trump's various court cases, convictions and condemnation rests entirely on his own behavior. Still, some Trump allies have used the shooting as an opportunity to push back on his critics. And the Kremlin is moving in lockstep with them.