Addressing the Texas ICE facility shooting that killed one and injured two detainees, President Trump again specifically blamed “radical left rhetoric” for inciting violence.
A reporter treating as fact an unverified premise that there has been an “uptick in left-wing violence” asked Trump who the President “holds responsible” for the alleged “uptick” in violence.
[NOTE: Political violence in the U.S. is on the rise, though research from PBS News and other sources– including the Department of Justice — has concluded that “most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.”]
The question posed to Trump included references to FBI Director Kash Patel sharing allegations on social media after the Texas ICE attack that ammunition recovered at the scene was marked with “anti-ICE” rhetoric and that a handwritten note authored by the shooter expressed a wish to terrorize ICE officers.
As Trump cast blame for the shooting on “radical left rhetoric” he specifically namechecked a single Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX).
Trump: Bad things happen when they play these games. I’ll give you a little clue, the right is a lot tougher than the left, but the right is not doing this. And they better not get them energized because it won’t be good for the left. pic.twitter.com/zJ3XNGxS9g
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 25, 2025
“The radical left is causing the problem,” Trump conjectured. “They’re out of control. They’re saying things. They’re really dumb people, I mean, I look at Crockett, I look at some of these people, they’re very low IQ people.”
Claiming that he is “president of all the people” and that he doesn’t wish to see what he next described, Trump also said: “Bad things happen when they play these games. I’ll give you a little clue, the right is a lot tougher than the left…It’ll be a point where other people won’t take it anymore and that won’t be good for the left.”
Many in the comments are characterizing the ominous portent of the President’s rhetoric as a thinly veiled threat from Trump, expressing concerns that he is tacitly condoning an escalation by right-wing activists.
There is also hand-wringing in comments that what normally sets off alarms in the public sphere has been normalized, so that Trump’s rhetoric isn’t treated as extraordinary.
The media and maga pundits will make light of this dangerous rhetoric and threats.
—
KAREN (@CapiLady) September 25, 2025
Trump’s excoriation of Crockett, a Black woman from Texas, as being one of the “dumb people” is rhetoric commonly employed by the President. It’s not the first time Trump has characterized Crockett as “low IQ” — when he said the same on Meet The Press this summer Crockett used the insult to raise funds for her campaign.
Crockett, for her part, engages in the same name-calling when she talks about Trump, asking this week in an X post: “Can we Make Presidents Smart Again?!”
Can we Make Presidents Smart Again?!
— Jasmine Crockett (@JasmineForUS) September 23, 2025