Trump Seems to Ditch Unity Messaging in Angry Rant Days After Shooting: ‘Dismiss All Witch Hunts’

In the days after the terrible assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the ex-president had pledged to send a more unifying message going forward. It seems he's ditched the message only days into the shooting. Trump linked the assassination attempt to the criminal and civil cases launched against him in a new Truth Social post on July 15, in response to the classified documents case being dismissed.

Trump stated that he wanted to go with "Uniting our Nation" but then accused the prosecution of conducting an extensive political witch hunt against him, per Raw Story. He also accused the writer E. Jean Carroll of lying, even though he has been found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming her on many occasions. "The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks," Trump wrote in the controversial post, adding, "which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME."

Trump also unleashed attacks at his favorite targets: special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Willis has accused Trump of election racketeering in Georgia; Smith has charged Trump with violating the Espionage Act and interfering with elections; Bragg led the criminal conviction on charges of falsifying business records; and James has successfully sued Trump for $464 million in civil fraud damages.

Trump dismissed all these cases as politically motivated false cases, "ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia 'Perfect' Phone Call charges."

With verdicts of $5 million and $83.3 million, Trump has now been held guilty for defamation twice about his lies that he never sexually abused Carroll. Going forward with the unity message, Trump said, "This dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts." He wrote, "Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!"

Political and media analysts claim that rather than focusing on policy proposals, Trump uses the basic slogan of "making America great again," and the photograph taken following the assassination attempt fits in well with that message, per ABC 7. "This is something that could really stick, because it can really be weaponized by the Republicans in support of their candidate," said Northwestern University School of Communications Professor Heather Hendershot. "Trump has been the master of imagery, and he knows how to take advantage of every opportunity to get his message across," ABC Political Analyst Laura Washington agreed.

This can be a problem for Democrats, who are struggling to de-emphasize the negative rhetoric around Trump. "If they feel like they have to deemphasize negativity around Trump, but they're having issues spinning their own candidate as positive, where do they go from there? So, it is really kind of a catch-22," Hendershot said.