David Axelrod, former senior adviser to then-President Obama, said Sunday that Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) response to the attempted assassination of former President Trump should be disqualifying for the position of vice president.
“If @JDVance1 is on the short list for VP, this Tweet, sent an hour after the assassination attempt in PA, ought to disqualify him in the eyes of the Trump campaign,” Axelrod wrote on the social platform X, reposting Vance’s statement.
Vance, a top contender for Trump’s choice of running mate, said in a social media post on Saturday that the shooting was “not some isolated incident” and suggested President Biden’s campaign was, at least in part, to blame.
“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
But Axelrod sharply criticized Vance’s response — calling it the “wrong vibe in that moment” — and suggested the Trump administration might not be interested in a running mate who embraces polarizing sentiments.
“As we now are learning, the gunman’s profile doesn’t seem to match Vance’s premise. But at least wait and see!” Axelrod said. “Trump probably doesn’t want a shoot-from-the-hip VP.”
The post comes in the aftermath of what officials are describing an assassination attempt — the most significant since President Reagan was shot in 1981. The alleged gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, wounding the former president, who was subsequently whisked away by officials as he held his ear, which appeared bloody.
Republicans and Democrats have broadly urged unity in the wake of the shooting, as the FBI and federal officials investigate the circumstances that allowed a gunman to take a shot at the former president.
FBI officials have said it is not clear yet what the suspect’s motive is, although they said he appears to have acted alone.