Watch Democrat’s deer-in-headlights reaction to suggestion to cool the anti-Trump rhetoric

Democrat Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin appeared confused when CNN’s Dana Bash asked whether he “thinks twice” about his and his party’s “heated” anti-Trump rhetoric just hours after an apparent third assassination attempt against the president.

Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was in attendance at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner where a man tried to breach a security checkpoint and fired multiple shots. The ensuing chaos saw the successful evacuation of President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and multiple members of the administration. Raskin appeared Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” and gave a perplexed reaction when asked whether he has done any introspection about his and other Democrats’ use of politically charged rhetoric against Trump in light of the recent event.

“What rhetoric do you have in mind?” Raskin asked in response to Bash’s question Sunday morning.

“Just talking about … the fact that he is terrible for this country, and so on and so forth,” Bash cut in, summarizing Democratic Party talking points about the president, who has now survived three separate assassination attempts in the past two years. “I understand that that’s your democratic right. But overall, do you have a responsibility?”

“I have no personal problem with Donald Trump at all,” Raskin fired back. “I mean, I talk about the policies of this administration, the authoritarianism, like we saw on display in Minneapolis, where two of our citizens were gunned down in the streets simply for exercising their First Amendment rights: Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and others have died in custody.”

“I’m talking about policies. I don’t personalize it,” the high-ranking Democrat insisted.

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“And I certainly have never called the press the ‘enemy of the people,’” he said, appearing to change the topic by referring to a tweet Trump sent in 2017, less than a month into his first term. “I think the press are the people’s best friend, and that’s why it’s written right there into the First Amendment. We need the press to be a vigilant watchdog against every level of government: federal, state, local, all of it.”

As the lead Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and the former ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Raskin has garnered a reputation as one of the most well-known Trump foes in Congress. He notably served as the lead House impeachment manager during the second such inquiry into president in 2021 and was subsequently a member of the January 6th Committee.

Raskin, like many of his Democratic congressional colleagues, has continually cast Trump as a unique threat to the American governing system. He stated in February 2021 that, as long as Trump’s “out there attempting to wage war on American constitutional democracy, he’s a problem for all of us.”

In October 2025, Raskin called that month’s “No Kings” protests totally positive, totally patriotic” and a “‘Love America’ movement” during an MSNBC appearance. Raskin did not address or mention the fact that some of the protesters participating in the same demonstrations threatened the deaths of Trump and members of his administration.

“Then there’s the political rhetoric that we have seen just get— just become kind of off the rails, and how that has perhaps gone hand in hand with the political violence that we have seen spike,” Bash said earlier to Raskin.

“Well, that’s why I was so happy that President Trump went to that [the dinner] because he had called the press the enemy of the people. There have been so many attacks on reporters,” Raskin said when the CNN host introduced the topic of political rhetoric. “You know, there have been lawsuits brought against media entities. And so there’s been this terrible assault on the First Amendment and freedom of press and speech. So I thought last night would be a wonderful opportunity to try to reclaim the basic values of the country.”

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