Former first lady Melania Trump issued a statement on Sunday defending her husband, the former president Donald Trumpafter being injured in a shooting at a campaign rally the night before.
In a letter posted to social media, Melania said she realized her life and the life of their son Barron were “on the verge of devastating change” after a “violent bullet” struck her husband.
“A monster my husband recognized as an inhuman political machine tried to harness Donald's passions — his laughter, his ingenuity, his love of music, his inspiration. The core aspects of my husband's life — his humanity — were buried beneath the political machine,” she wrote.
Melania described her husband, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, as “the generous and caring man with whom I have been through the best and worst of times.”
On Saturday, Donald Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when shots rang out, after which the former president was seen with a bloody ear. Trump was escorted off the stage and taken to a hospital. A spokesman has since said Trump is “fine.” Authorities killed the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, at the scene.
At least one protester was killed and two others were seriously injured in the shooting.
In addition to condemning the “horrific” shooting and offering condolences to the families of the other victims, Melania Trump stressed the need for Americans to come together and “see beyond left and right, beyond red and blue.” A bipartisan chorus of lawmakers and other public figures, including President Joe Biden, have condemned the political violence in the wake of the shooting.
“We are all human and fundamentally, instinctively, we want to help each other,” Melania Trump wrote. “American politics is just one vehicle that can lift up our communities. Love, compassion, kindness and empathy are necessities.”
“This morning, rise above the hate, the vitriol, and the simplistic ideas that fuel violence. We all want a world where respect comes first, where family comes first, and where love transcends all else,” she wrote. “We can make that world a reality again. We must all demand to get it back. We must insist that respect be the cornerstone of our relationships, once again.”
