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Trump Rages Against Critics, All But Silent on Alleged Terror Attack on Dem Governor
Nearly 36 hours after the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence was firebombed in what some have described as a possible assassination attempt and anti-Semitic terror attack targeting Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, President Donald Trump has yet to publicly condemn the act of violence—which has been charged as attempted murder, arson, and terrorism—committed as the governor and his family slept.
Just days after he was sworn in to office in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order denouncing what he called “an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism and violence,” as NPR reported January 29. He also declared that U.S. policy “shall be” to use “all available and appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”
But, as critics have noticed, it’s been all but radio silence from the U.S. President on the heinous crimes carried out against Governor Shapiro on the first full day of Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating liberation from slavery.
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The suspect, “Cody Balmer, 38, jumped a fence and managed to evade state troopers after he broke into the building, the authorities said,” The New York Times reported. “He fled the scene and was arrested after turning himself in to the police on Sunday afternoon, officials said at a news conference.”
According to the affidavit, Balmer said that if he had encountered Governor Shapiro, he would have beaten him with his hammer.
“Mr. Balmer was charged with attempted murder, arson and terrorism, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office said early Monday.”
Since the attack on Governor Shapiro and the governor’s mansion, President Trump, on his Truth Social platform, has announced the visit this week of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, and thanked him for what some say is the unlawful imprisonment of “some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” whom Trump labeled “barbarians.”
He posted videos of his Saturday night visit to UFC 314, a mixed martial arts event. He denied the tariff exemptions on cell phones, computers, and other tech items are actually “exceptions.” He posted a message to Christians honoring Holy Week. He also posted video of an apparent drone strike and wrote: “Time for the terrorists to hide, but it won’t do them any good.”
Trump called for New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office.
In one random post, Trump wrote (in all-caps): “The best definition of intelligence is the ability to predict the future!!!”
In a lengthy post, Trump blasted CBS News for running two investigative stories on him Sunday evening. He called for the news network to lose its broadcast license, and wrote: “Hopefully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr, will impose the maximum fines and punishment … for their unlawful and illegal behavior.”
And as recently as just past 10 AM, Trump posted a message effectively washing his hands of Russia’s unlawful war against Ukraine.
Trump also re-posted a video wishing Jewish families a “blessed Passover,” saying, “may God continue to watch over the Jewish people.”
As of publication time, the President does not appear to have said anything publicly to the people of Pennsylvania or Governor Shapiro to condemn the attack on their governor, his family, and the governor’s mansion.
“Last night at about 2AM,” Governor Shapiro wrote on Sunday, “my family and I woke up to bangs on the door from the Pennsylvania State Police after an arsonist set fire to the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg. The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was on the scene and while they worked to put out the fire, we were evacuated from the Residence safely by Pennsylvania State Police and assisted by Capitol Police. Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished. Every day, we stand with the law enforcement and first responders who run towards danger to protect our communities. Last night, they did so for our family – and Lori and I are eternally grateful to them for keeping us safe.”
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Responding to that message, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that she is “deeply relieved that Governor Shapiro and his family are safe, thankful for the first responders who arrived on the scene, and applaud the police work that resulted in an arrest just hours ago.”
There was no indication she was considering federal charges. The FBI reportedly is assisting in the investigation.
The New York Times DC correspondent Glenn Thrush noted: “Interesting to see how Bondi’s response evolves if there’s evidence the attack was political. She called Tesla vandalism ‘domestic terrorism’ — and vowed to seek max sentences. Shapiro and his family were at home during an arson attempt. Seems far more serious at 1st glance.”
Vice President JD Vance appears to be the only Trump administration official to condemn the attack.
“Thanks be to God that Governor Shapiro and his family were unharmed in this attack. Really disgusting violence, and I hope whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice,” he wrote.
Writer Charlotte Clymer, a former Human Rights Campaign press secretary on Sunday afternoon remarked: “The attempt to burn down the Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion is pretty clearly an assassination attempt, and it’s likely an antisemitic hate crime. It should be referred to that way by political media.”
David Axelrod, the former Obama Senior Advisor and chief strategist, wrote: “Where is the @POTUS?”
“Did I miss it or has he not said, or posted, a word about this attack in PA?”
President Trump’s response so far follows a familiar pattern seen in previous instances of far-right violence or incendiary rhetoric—such as after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017, when public pressure ultimately led him to issue a condemnation that some viewed as equivocal.
Asked aboard Air Force One on Sunday night if he had any reaction to the attack on Governor Shapiro, Trump could only say, “I just heard about it, no, I’ll have to look into it.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
“I just heard about it” — Trump opined at length about the Masters while talking to reporters this morning but played completely dumb about the arson attack targeting Gov. Shapiro pic.twitter.com/260OEI1qAj
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 14, 2025
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
