In the wake of the most recent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance are continuing to spread lies about immigrants. At the same time, both Trump and Vance have blamed Democratic “rhetoric” for inspiring the would-be assassin, 58-year-old Ryan W. Routh.

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump said that Routh “believed the rhetoric of [President Joe] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris, and he acted on it.” Trump added, “Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

Pointing to previous statements from Harris and Biden that characterized Trump as a “threat to democracy,” Trump said, “These are people that want to destroy our country. It is called the enemy from within. They are the real threat.”

Threatening to intensify his fascist rhetoric, Trump added, “They use highly inflammatory language, I can use it too—far better than they can—but I don’t.”

Trump is attempting to draw an amalgam between the Democrats’ obsession with war with Russia—which apparently inspired Routh as evidenced by his social media postings, interviews, and support for the fascist Ukrainian government—and genuine left-wing democratic sentiments.

With less than 50 days before the November election, the threat of fascist violence hangs over the entire country. On Monday, the FBI and US Postal Service confirmed that suspicious packages containing a “white powder substance” were sent to the secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma. As of this writing, it appears the substance was non-hazardous, although the AP reported that the election offices in Iowa were evacuated on Monday due to the threat.

Following Trump’s racist blood libel against Haitian immigrants in the Ohio town of Springfield during last Tuesday’s debate, dozens of public buildings and schools have been locked down in the last week. In a press conference on Monday Ohio Governor Mike DeWine revealed that there had been 33 bomb threats, some of which he claimed originated from overseas.

On Monday, Springfield city officials announced that due to “safety concerns” the city would be canceling “CultureFest,” which was scheduled to be held on September 27 and 28.

In an attempt to keep schools open, DeWine ordered the deployment of 36 Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers to the town to sweep all 17 Springfield city school buildings each morning and after school. In addition to troopers, the Ohio Department of Public Safety is also deploying bomb detection dogs.

Despite the ongoing disruptions to the community, Trump and Vance, with the support of virtually the entire Republican Party, have continued their racist slanders against immigrants, melding it with accusations that Democrats are not only purposely fueling the “invasion” but inciting political violence against Trump.

Writing on Truth Social Tuesday morning, Trump accused “Comrade Kamala Harris” of taking “politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust. Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”

Trump accused Harris of “[a]llowing millions of people, from places unknown, to INVADE and take over our Country,” an “unpardonable sin.”

In a long X post on his account Monday, Vance likewise accused Democrats, specifically Harris, of inciting the latest shooter. “The rhetoric is out of control. It nearly got Steve Scalise and many others killed a few years ago. It nearly got Donald Trump killed twice,” Vance wrote.

Vance then accused the media and Harris of engaging in a “double standard” for accusing Republicans of “violent rhetoric” while ignoring Democrats’ speech. Weaving the latest assassination attempt on Trump and the Republicans’ anti-immigrant campaign, Vance said this “double standard” extended to Springfield, Ohio.

“Consider Springfield,” Vance wrote, blaming immigrants for every social ill. “Citizens are telling us that there are problems. These include the undeniable truths of higher car accidents, unaffordable housing, evictions of residents, overcrowded hospitals, overstressed schools, and rising rates of disease.”

Tripling-down on Trump’s pet-eating lies, Vance wrote: “They also include the infamous pet stories—which, again, multiple people have spoken about (either on video or to me or my staff).”

Appealing to neo-Nazis, Vance melded his anti-immigrant lies with attacks on the lügenpresse:

They cover a bomb threat, but not the rise in murders. They cover the threat, but not the HIV uptick. They cover the threat, not the schools overwhelmed with new kids who don’t speak English. They cover the threat, not rising insurance rates or the car accidents that caused them. They cover the threat, not the failures of Kamala Harris’s leadership.

Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Dinner in Georgia on Monday alongside Governor Brian Kemp, Vance said, “No one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months. And two people have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months. I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric.”

As Republicans stoke violence against immigrants and their political opponents, Harris and the Democrats continue to appeal to Republicans and downplay the fascist threat. Speaking at a town hall on Tuesday in Flint, Michigan, Trump revealed that both Biden and Harris had called him recently to express their concern over his well-being.

“I have to say that President Biden called me yesterday, he was very nice, we had a very nice conversation,” Trump said, adding, “I appreciated that he called about what happened the other day.”

Trump noted that “a little while ago, I got a very nice call from Kamala.” As his supporters began to boo, Trump cooed, “No, no, it was very nice. It was very nice. It was very, very nice, and we appreciate that.”

As Vance and Trump were campaigning in Michigan, Harris appeared for an interview in Philadelphia with the National Association of Black Journalists. Asked to comment on the events in Springfield, Harris characterized fascist Republican attacks as a “crying shame” without ever once referring to Trump or Vance by name, or Haiti or Haitians.

In her over six-minute answer, Harris, speaking to the audience like they were children, said, “You know there were children, elementary school children who, it was, it was school photo day. You remember what that is like? Going to school on picture day? Who were dressed up in their best, got all ready, knew what they were going to wear the night before and have to be evacuated.”

Harris added,

When you are bestowed with a microphone … there is a profound responsibility that comes with that. That is an extension of, what should not be lost in this moment, this concept of the public trust. To then understand what the public trust means, it means that you have to be invested with trust. To be responsible in ways with your words, much less how you conduct yourself, and especially when you have been and seek to be again President of the United States of America.

After characterizing the Republicans’ anti-immigrant campaign, which will be used to reject the vote should Trump lose, a “crying shame” again, Harris lamented the effect Trump’s fascist agitation was having—not on the Haitian immigrants who have been harassed and intimidated—on the police.

“Look, you say you care about law enforcement,” Harris said. “Law enforcement resources being put into this because of these serious threats that are being issued against a community that is living a productive good life before this happened.”