In the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Republicans are examining and scrutinizing the recent rhetoric used by President Joe Biden leading up to the shooting.

As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the assassination attempt occurred Saturday when Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, apparently opened fire from a nearby rooftop during Trump’s rally. A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, but he was not seriously injured.

Secret Service agents quickly neutralized Crooks, but the repercussions of the attempted assassination have rippled through the country.

Many Republicans are focusing on Biden’s recent remarks during a private call with donors, where he said, “I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

Biden’s rhetoric in the call was detailed in a Politico report that was published on July 8, 5 days before the assassination attempt. The headline of the article reads, “Defiant Biden tells donors: ‘We’re done talking about the debate.’”

The president’s approach, as reported by a source on the call, was described as “attack, attack, attack,” per Politico.

The remarks from the current president have circulated widely on social media, with many Republicans arguing that such language is not only irresponsible but dangerous in this political climate.

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA)  posted on X, “Joe Biden sent the orders.”

In a later post, he also said, “Notice that after an attempted assassination of President Trump, the same people who wanted him prosecuted for telling his supporters to peacefully march to the Capitol on January 6 are not calling for President Biden’s prosecution after he said it was time to put President Trump in the bullseye after their debate.”

“The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination,” Collins added.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) echoed these sentiments, criticizing Biden for what she described as a lackluster response to the violence, calling the president’s delay in response to the shooting “unacceptable.”

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told 9News, “’Much of the rhetoric from the left has escalated to this moment. President Trump was literally put in a bullseye after the President of the United States, the sitting President of the United States, called for him to be put in a bullseye.”

According to the BBC, some Republicans have also highlighted Democrats’ recent attempts to stop Trump’s Secret Service protection following his recent conviction on felony charges related to falsifying business records.

Democrats, meanwhile, have been quick to counter these accusations, with some pointing out that Crooks acted alone and that Biden’s comments were taken out of context, per the BBC.

In a national address held after the assassination attempt, Biden told Americans, “We must unite as one nation to condemn it. It’s sick, it’s sick.”

Critics on the left have previously accused Trump of using seemingly violent rhetoric of his own, as NBC News reported.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor, stated that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign “was a watershed in terms of the beginning of a systematic attempt by Trump and people around him to shift out political culture from a democracy to an authoritarian one. And what that meant was, he was speaking about violence as something positive.”

The House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6 at the Capitol concluded that the violence that took place there was the culmination of weeks of inflammatory rhetoric by Trump, as PBS News reported.

As previously covered by The Dallas Express, Trump was not the only victim of the violence at the Pennsylvania rally. Corey Comperatore, 50, tragically lost his life while shielding his wife and daughter during the assassination attempt. Two additional attendees at the rally, identified as David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, were seriously injured in the shooting.

As of Sunday afternoon, both Copenhaver and Dutch were reported to be in stable condition.