Critics of President Donald Trump have pointed blame at the president after the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner descended into chaos on Saturday as a shooter allegedly attempted to assassinate the president and members of his Cabinet.

“Chaos follows him. And you are less safe, right? If you decide to go into his orbit, you have become less safe. If you – he’s just – he does not care about your safety, he’s not going to protect you if you go into his orbit because he’s always going to protect himself first,” ex-NBC host Chuck Todd said during a conversation with former CNN host Chris Cillizza.

The Justice Department is building the case against alleged assassin Cole Allen, 31, from Torrance, Calif., accused of opening fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

“So the guy doesn’t care when people commit violence in his name. He only cares when the violence is committed against him, and he does not see that he is a contributor to the atmospherics of the world we’re living in right now,” Todd said.

President Donald Trump posted a photo on social media showing law enforcement detaining Cole Thomas Allen following a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. (US President Trump via Truth Social/Anadolu/Getty Images)

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Todd declared that he wouldn’t be going to any events where Trump is present and said he didn’t feel safe.

The former NBC host was also a guest on CNN on Monday, during which he argued only the president can tone down the rhetoric, during a discussion with Kasie Hunt.

“Presidents set the thermostat for the country, for better or for worse,” he said. “And only a president can dial down on the rhetoric, only a president can set the tone. It is on the president. This is why you can’t expect a speaker of the House to do this, a chairman of a political party. Certainly everybody should watch their words and be careful in incendiary rhetoric, but ultimately, the political community and the community at large takes its cues from this president. And this is a president who, from the very beginning, has been very pugilistic.”

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Former moderator Chuck Todd appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 20, 2023. (William B. Plowman/NBC)

Radio host Charlemagne tha God also pointed a finger at the president following the shooting. The suspect, Allen, said he wanted to target the Trump administration, according to his manifesto.

“People always ask if we’re going to tone down the violent rhetoric toward Trump. Stop it. I’m sick of that narrative. I need every media personality to direct that energy and that question to one person and one person only: Donald J. Trump,” Charalmagne said. “At what point do people simply say, ‘Hey Trump, you’re the drama?'”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., appeared to blame Trump for the shooting at the WHCA Dinner on Monday as well, suggesting that the shooting was the result of his unpopularity.

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Krishnamoorthi spoke about the shooting during his appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” telling co-host Pamela Brown, “There’s tremendous, as you can understand, concern given the threat levels that are going up, in part because of the — the president and now three assassination attempts on him, his very low approval ratings, which unfortunately fuel a lot of disaffection.”

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also urged Trump to look at his own rhetoric in his rebuttal to those outraged over a remark he made about first lady Melania Trump.

“And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do it, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it,” Kimmel later told the first lady. “Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you, as am I, as are all of us. Because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech. But with that said, I am sorry that you and the president and everyone in that room on Saturday went through that. I really am. Just because no one got killed, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary. We should come together and be the best.”

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Steve Schmidt, who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said immediately after the shooting that Trump is a “vile and disgusting man,” according to a video posted by The Daily Wire.

After calling Trump the “foremost domestic enemy to the Constitution in our lifetime,” he said the president poisoned the rhetoric and atmosphere of the U.S.

“He has poisoned the rhetoric in this country. He has poisoned the atmosphere. He has divided the country. He has done everything that he can possibly do to try and destroy the norms and institutions of this country. And the fact is, that he has succeeded in many ways. This man is a clear and present danger to the United States of America,” he continued.

The White House has blamed a “left-wing cult of hatred” for the third attempt on Trump’s life.

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“Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points, are fueling this kind of violence,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday at the White House. 

“The left-wing cult of hatred against the president and all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed, and it almost did so again this weekend.”

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Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was asked Sunday about certain rhetoric used against Trump following the shooting.

When asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” by Dana Bash whether he and other Democrats should reconsider heated, inflammatory language toward Trump, Raskin responded, “What rhetoric do you have in mind?” before adding that he criticizes administration policies rather than making personal attacks.

“I talk about the policies of this administration, the authoritarianism,” Raskin said. “I don’t personalize it.”