Kellyanne Conway blames White House shooting on people ‘losing it’ over four more years of Trump

White House adviser blamed angry Democrats for stoking hatred of the president

Trump administration adviser Kellyanne Conway has cast yesterday’s security incident at the White House as an indictment of Democratic leaders who are “losing it” over the prospect of a second Trump term.

In a Tuesday discussion on Fox News’s morning show Fox & Friends, Ms Conway was asked for her view on the events of Monday evening, which saw an “aggressive” man shot by a Secret Service officer and Donald Trump bundled out of a press briefing for his own safety.

Lauding Donald Trump for returning to the press briefing after the Secret Service declared the incident over – “that’s very Donald Trump also, the show must go on” – Ms Conway gave her analysis that the violence erupting in various American cities can be blamed on a deep rage among some Democrats about Mr Trump’s potential re-election.

“What’s really regrettable,” she said, “is that I see these mayors in their press conferences and are really shameless but not blameless and not nameless.

“What is the most common word they say in their press conferences? Not police, no sympathy. ‘Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump! We will not have the president and the feds here!’”

This, she said, shows that the president’s opponents are cracking up. “It means people are shoveling hate at police officers, shoveling hate at people who work here. I think that people are also worried that Donald Trump is going to get four more years and they’re starting to lose it.”

Mr Trump has consistently trailed Joe Biden in the polls for months now. His campaign has lately tried to present the clashes between protesters and police and federal forces as an omen of what “Joe Biden’s America” would look like, but the message has struggled to take hold given the incidents are in fact taking place during Mr Trump’s own presidency.

Ms Conway previously defended Mr Trump’s controversial photo op during demonstrations earlier this summer, when a crowd of peaceful demonstrators were dispersed using tear gas so that Mr Trump could hold up a bible in front of St John’s Church near the White House.

"Why did he have that Bible up?” she said, again on Fox News. “That is a symbol to everyone that we will not allow arsonists and anarchists who set that fire ablaze, who really demean the memory of those who have lost their lives in the name of their respective faiths and religions. We won’t allow them to dissuade us from practicing our religion.”