Tag: News

• The assassination attempt on Trump has shocked China as well, exploding in virality on social media.
• But it's also fed common narratives in China about the US, like the idea that it's a "Gotham City." 
• The attack on Saturday has resurfaced usual criticisms of gun violence and political infighting.

A gunman's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has flung the US back into the spotlight in China.

The deadly shooting on Saturday, which killed one spectator at Trump's Pennsylvania rally and left the former president's ear bleeding, has dominated discussions on Weibo, China's version of X.

Within one day, topics covering the shooting itself, Trump's response, and viral photos of the Republican nominee's fist-pump have received over 1.7 billion total views on Weibo, per data seen by Business Insider.

Many reactions closely mirrored the mood on international social-media platforms like X, with users expressing shock and rushing to decipher the details of the attack.

Yet for the Chinese internet, a prevailing outcome of the shooting has been that it confirms a widely held bias of the US being poorly run and prone to internal strife because of its political system.

Gun violence and a narrative of chaos

Gun access, one of the usual suspects in Chinese criticism toward the US, reemerged at the fore of discussion on Sunday. The FBI says the 20-year-old rally shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, used a legally purchased 5.56mm AR-style rifle to attack Trump.

"Free America, a shooting every day," wrote one user. Theirs was the most-liked comment on the state media's report on the shooting.

"But why won't you ban guns?" another user wrote.

"Because the Americans have heard too many gunshots, so they are immune to them," one person wrote when a blogger discussed the crowd's reaction to the shooting.

It's a narrative that's been propagated for years in China: The idea that the US, with its protests, urban crime rates, and gun violence, is an incessantly chaotic and dangerous place to live in. Some have taken to routinely referring to the US as a massive "Gotham City."

Beijing, meanwhile, has been building China's image as a country with low crime and close to no gun violence.

"It feeds into the broader, persistent narrative that China is a far 'safer' and more orderly country compared to the United States," Dylan Loh, an assistant professor of politics and social science at the National University of Singapore, told BI.

"It is true that such public gun-related violence is almost unheard of in China," Loh added.

Democracy is seen as too messy

The same sentiment appeared in The Global Times, a tabloid often considered a mouthpiece for the ruling government. One Chinese professor told the outlet that the attack on Trump showed the"ongoing rampant gun violence issue in the US."

"This indicates that political violence has been a persistent element in American history," Diao Daming, a professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the outlet.

That's another criticism often levied by China against the US and liberal democracy as a whole. People there frequently opine that the US two-party election system is messy, hinders real progress, and creates needless infighting.

"The only way for Biden to defeat Trump is to assassinate him, and the only way for us to defeat the United States is to hope that the United States starts a civil war," one blogger wrote on Sunday.

"The US election is more entertaining than all the entertainment variety shows and film art in the world," another wrote.

China's one-party system typically changes its paramount leader every 10 years, though Xi Jinping has governed for 12 and has removed limits on his time in the nation's highest office.

'Comrade Nation Builder'

Memes of Trump's survival have also surfaced, with users cheering how "Comrade Nation Builder" was escorted away with just a bleeding ear.

A sarcastic nickname for the former president that surged in popularity after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, it's used to lampoon Trump as a man secretly working for China to undermine the US.

"This photo of Trump is too good. The photographer deserves a bonus! Comrade Nation Builder has made such great sacrifices," wrote a beauty blogger.

Some have also photoshopped a Chinese flag behind Trump as he raised his fist in defiance.

"Even though the bullet struck my ear, I can still hear the voice of the Party!" one blogger wrote jokingly in a caption.

China's central government, for its part, has said little officially about the attack. Xi, meanwhile, joined world leaders in expressing sympathy to Trump.

To be sure, the attack on Trump has been widely criticized in the US as a failure of the Secret Service, with experts questioning how a gunman was able to reach a vantage point with a weapon so close to the former president's location.

Top leaders on both sides of the aisle have also asked for calm, calling for political rhetoric to tone down.

"Obviously, we can't go on like this as a society," House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday.

• Sam Altman may want to consider ringing up Marvel if the AI thing doesn't pan out.
• "Black Widow" star Scarlett Johansson said the OpenAI CEO could well make a decent Marvel villain.
• "Maybe with a robotic arm," Johansson quipped to The New York TImes' Maureen Dowd.

Actor Scarlett Johansson thinks OpenAI CEO Sam Altman would make a good Marvel villain.

"I guess he would — maybe with a robotic arm," the "Black Widow" star told The New York Times' Maureen Dowd in a story published Saturday.

Johansson made the quip after talking about her dispute with Altman and his company, OpenAI. The company released its latest GPT-4o model in May, which came with several voice options.

But the AI model soon drew the ire of Johansson after many social media users pointed out that one of its voices, "Sky," sounded just like the AI chatbot she voiced in Spike Jonze's 2013 film "Her."

"When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference," Johansson said in a statement on May 20.

In her statement, Johansson said she'd initially turned down Altman's offer to voice the AI model back in September. Altman, she said, approached her again in May, "two days before the ChatGPT 4.0 demo was released" on May 13.

"Before we could connect, the system was out there," she said.

On May 19, OpenAI said in a blog post that it pausing "Sky's" release.

"The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers. We cast the voice actor behind Sky's voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson," Altman said in a statement the following day. "We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn't communicate better."

In her interview with Dowd, Johansson said that "it was surreal" when OpenAI released "Sky" to the world.

"I had actively avoided being a part of the conversation, which was what made it so disturbing," Johansson told The Times. "I was like, 'How did I get wrapped up in this?' It was crazy. I was so angry."

"I think technologies move faster than our fragile human egos can process it, and you see the effects all over, especially with young people. This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave," she said.

Representatives for Altman and Johansson didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• A 20-year-old man fired at Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one rallygoer.
• An ex-classmate said the gunman was a poor shot and was rejected from his high school's rifle team.
• "He was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was," the classmate said to ABC News.

The 20-year-old gunman who fired at former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday was a bad shot, his ex-classmate says.

Jameson Myers, who said he attended both elementary and high school with the suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, spoke to ABC News after the shooting, which left one rallygoer dead and two others injured.

Myers told ABC News Crooks had tried to join their high school's rifle team, but was rejected and told not to try out again.

"He didn't just not make the team, he was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was, it was considered like, dangerous," Myers said.

Myers graduated in 2022 with Crooks. According to CBS News, Myers was in the Bethel Park High School varsity rifle team. He told CBS he and Crooks were close in elementary school but not in high school.

Another anonymous rifle team member told ABC News that people believed Crooks "wasn't really fit" to join them.

"He also shot terrible," the team member said.

But Myers added that Crooks, who was killed at the scene by Secret Service agents, never acted like a "political revolutionary" and that he was a "very nice, even sweet guy."

The rifle team's coach declined to respond to ABC News' queries. The school district told the outlet that Crooks had "never appeared on a roster" and that there was "no record" of him trying out.

The FBI confirmed Crook's identity to Business Insider early on Sunday morning.

Crooks was a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the center said in a statement obtained by The Hill on Sunday. His motives for the attack are, at press time, unclear.

Outside school, Crooks was a member of the Clairton Sportsmen's Club, a club with multiple pistol and rifle ranges in Clairton, Pennsylvania, CBS News reported.

He had used an AR-style 5.56 rifle that was legally purchased to shoot Trump and the spectator, FBI Pittsburgh Office Director Kevin Rojek said in a call with reporters on Sunday.

Trump was seen ducking for cover after gunshots rang out at his Saturday rally. Photographers later captured snapshots of Trump as he stood and pumped his fist at the crowd in defiance, with streaks of blood on his face.

He was then escorted off-stage by Secret Service agents.

The top of his ear was pierced with the bullet, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday. In an interview with the New York Post on Sunday, he said he was lucky to be alive.

"I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead," Trump said.

"By luck or by God, many people are saying it's by God I'm still here," he added.

He also told the Post that he thinks the Secret Service agents did a "fantastic job" gunning down the shooter.

• Ark Invest's Cathie Wood says she wouldn't have sold her Nvidia stock if she knew it was going up.
• She previously called Nvidia a "check the box stock" with too much "hyperactivity." 
• Nvidia's stock has gained 172% this year, and it briefly became the most valuable company in June. 

Hindsight is 20/20 for Ark Invest's Cathie Wood, whose fund missed out on the Nvidia stock rally when it sold its position too early.

"Before selling NVDA in ARKK, had we known that the market was going to reward it and the other Mag 6 stocks to the exclusion of stocks that will be the prime beneficiaries of AI, like TSLA – the largest AI project earth – and multiomics names like RXRX, we would have held it," Wood said in an X post on Sunday.

Wood's post referred to four stocks via their ticket symbols — Nvidia, Ark Innovation ETF, Tesla, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals.

She also appeared to reference the "Magnificent Seven," a list of top tech companies that include Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

A Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment to Business Insider.

Representatives for Wood didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Wood's remarks on Sunday are probably the closest we are ever going to get to a mea culpa from the famed investor. According to The Wall Street Journal, Wood's investment fund sold at least $4.5 million worth of Nvidia stock this year.

"Everyone now understands that Nvidia is the key chip player. It's created the AI age in a sense, but we do think that it has become a check the box stock," Wood told The Wall Street Journal's Dion Rabouin in a podcast that aired in February.

"I've watched Nvidia all my career actually since it's gone public, it's a very cyclical stock," she said. "There's this hyperactivity, everyone excited trying to get in at the same time, so there's double ordering, triple ordering, quadruple ordering, and then there is an inventory correction. We think that will happen again."

But Nvidia's stock price has more than outperformed Wood's bearish prediction. The chip giant's stock has gone up by 172% this year, and it briefly became the world's most valuable company last month.

To be sure, Wood isn't the only one who thinks Nvidia is wildly overvalued.

NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran said he sold half his Nvidia stake last year after the company hit a $1 trillion valuation.

"The run up has been just so astonishing that I cannot in good conscience hold on to it and call myself a value investor," Damodaran told CNBC in an interview from June 2023.

• Ultra-processed foods are everywhere but tend to be low in nutrients and fiber.
• A dietitian shared how to grab a quick low-UPF lunch at your favorite chain.
• Prioritize lean protein over processed meat and include a good source of fiber, she said. 

A dietitian shared three principles to follow if you want to cut down on ultra-processed foods but rely on fast food chains.

There's no set definition of UPFs, but they tend to be low in nutrients, and made hyper-palatable using ingredients and processes that you wouldn't find in a regular kitchen. This can lead to overeating and weight gain.

UPFs make up around 70% of the US food supply, and products can include the obvious soda, candy, to most store-bought sauces and even some wholewheat bread and yogurt.

Despite the associated health risks of eating UPFs, it's tough to avoid them while eating out. But it is possible to make healthy choices like you would at home, Kat Garcia-Benson, a dietitian based in Texas who works with Top Nutrition Coaching, told Business Insider.

Garcia-Benson encourages people to feel empowered by their food choices rather than feeling guilt and shame if they're not able to eat perfectly.

"We can prioritize nutrient-dense foods and at the same time, we can move on that spectrum depending on what's available, what's accessible," she said.

Garcia-Benson shared three principles to follow if you want to cut down on UPFs but need to eat out.

Choose a lean protein

Garcia-Benson recommends prioritizing a lean source of protein, such as grilled chicken, baked fish, or beans, over processed meats like sausage and bacon.

"If you're wanting to support your health long-term. If you're wanting to have a meal that maybe feels a little bit lighter and gives you a little bit more energy, we're going to focus on the lean protein," she said.

Processed meats have been linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, which is rising in younger people.

Evidence shows that eating even small amounts of processed meat on a regular basis increases the risk of the disease, according to The American Institute for Cancer Research.

Include fiber

Another priority for Garcia-Benson is adding some kind of vegetable or another good source of fiber to every meal.

"I work a lot in the digestive health field, and so fiber is a big focus of mine when working with clients," she said.

Fiber, which is found in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, is crucial for digestive health. It feeds the "good" bacteria in the gut, which are linked to smoother digestion and overall health.

UPFs tend to be low in fiber and high in fat, salt, and sugar because they're manufactured to be ultra-palatable. So by prioritizing fiber in your meal, you'll naturally eat fewer UPFs.

Think about the meal's purpose

When deciding what to order, it's important to think about what your nutritional needs for the rest of the day are, Garcia-Benson said.

"What you need that meal to do for you will oftentimes determine what would be the best choice for carbohydrates," she said. If you're going to be sitting at a desk for the rest of the day, you might opt for a salad. But if you're about to work out, you might want to include some more carbs for an energy boost.

"I like to focus on what to add versus what to take away," Garcia-Benson said.

• China's economy grew 4.7% in the second quarter of this year from a year ago, missing expectations.
• Its economy faces immediate internal challenges.
• One of the biggest challenges is weak domestic demand: People aren't buying enough stuff.

China's economy is under siege from tariff hikes by the US and the European Union, but this may not be its most immediate threat.

Instead, China's sluggish domestic demand appears to be a more pressing issue.

On Monday, Beijing released new data that underscores the scale of China's domestic consumption problem.

China's economy grew 4.7% in the second quarter of this year from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics — missing the 5.1% growth analysts polled by Reuters had expected.

Growth was dragged by weak consumption, with retail sales of consumer goods expanding just 2% in June from a year ago. In June, sales of cars, cosmetics, and household electronics and musical instruments slumped 6.2%, 14.6%, and 7.6% respectively from a year ago, the data showed. Notably, even as consumption fell in all these categories, residents' disposable income grew.

Not the first indicator of trouble

The data released on Monday comes after another data release signaled trouble a few weeks ago.

China's official Purchasing Managers' Index represents larger companies and state-owned enterprises, many of which are in industrial manufacturing. The index contracted for the second straight month in June, data released on June 30 shows.

In contrast, an S&P Global PMI reading — which reflects activity at export-oriented small and medium private businesses — showed output growth hit a three-year high in June.

That means consumer demand within China is slowing, even as demand for made-in-China products grows externally.

The divergence is important because China — the world's factory — could face lower global demand for some of its exports after trade tariffs kick in.

In a recent report, economists at Nomura wrote that there are "concerns that China's economy will be unable to sustain a strong recovery through depending only on exports."

The market's conviction in China's recovery is eroding, the Nomura economists wrote, with China's benchmark CSI 300 index giving up some gains after hitting a May peak.

China has acknowledged it faces challenges in the consumption space.

"We should be aware that the external environment is intertwined and complex, the domestic effective demand remains insufficient and the foundation for sound economic recovery and growth still needs to be strengthened," China's National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

While exports may continue to support growth in the coming months, "it probably won't overcome weakness on the domestic side," Eric Zhu, an economist at Bloomberg Economics, said in early July.

China's unwilling consumers

China is facing a real-estate crisis, stock-market volatility, geopolitical headwinds, and demographic challenges.

The economic uncertainty is contributing to weak consumer sentiment and risk hedging. People are spending their money on gold and experiences instead of discretionary goods.

Weak consumer demand is bad for China's economy, as it can contribute to a vicious cycle of deflationary pressure on the back of slowing wage growth and consumer spending. Not even China's mega-sales festivals can entice buyers to spend money the way they used to.

"The divergence between expansionary production and contractionary new orders suggests activity data on the supply side may continue to outperform demand-side activity data, which is likely to exert continued downward pressure on goods prices," the Nomura economists wrote in a separate note in early July.

The contraction in official manufacturing PMI and a pullback in industrial profits also validate concerns of "'too little, too late' policy stimulus," Vishnu Varathan, the chief economist of Asia excluding Japan at Mizuho Bank, in early July.

"Doubts that Beijing has a handle on economic revival are justifiably mounting," Varathan added.

July 15, 2024: This story has been updated with new data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.

• Donald Trump, fresh from an assassination attempt, said he was glad to get an "iconic" photo from it.
• "Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture," the former president told the New York Post. 
• The photo has been touted by Republicans on social media.

Former President Donald Trump, who was seen pumping his fist in the air after he got shot at during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said that he was glad he didn't have to die for an iconic picture.

"A lot of people say it's the most iconic photo they've ever seen," Trump said to the New York Post on Sunday. "They're right, and I didn't die. Usually, you have to die to have an iconic picture."

He added: "I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot."

Trump was seen ducking for cover after gunshots rang out at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Photographers later captured snapshots of Trump as he stood and pumped his fist at the crowd in defiance with streaks of blood across his face.

Trump was then escorted off-stage and whisked away by Secret Service agents.

The top of his ear was pierced with the bullet, he wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

The "iconic" photo is certainly doing him favors. It is being reposted and widely shared by Republican lawmakers and Trump supporters on social media.

Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., posted the photo by the Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci, writing: "He'll never stop fighting to Save America."

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also shared the photo, saying: "God protected President Trump."

Vucci, who has covered Trump for years, said he understood the significance of the moment when he heard gunshots ring out.

"I knew immediately it was gunfire," Vucci said in a video posted on the AP's website on Saturday. "So I looked at the stage, and I saw the Secret Service agents rushing to President Trump."

"In my mind, it all happened really fast," Vucci added. "At the moment I heard the shots being fired I knew that this was a moment of American history that had to be documented."

Trump told the New York Post he was lucky to be alive.

"I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead," Trump said.

"By luck or by God, many people are saying it's by God I'm still here," he added.

He also told the Post that he thinks agents did a "fantastic job" gunning down the shooter. The authorities have identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20.

The shooting left one spectator in the rally dead and left two others critically injured.

Following the shooting, senior lawmakers like House Speaker Mike Johnson have asked people to dial down the heated political rhetoric as the country gears up for the November presidential elections.

"We've got to turn the rhetoric down," Johnson said on Sunday. "We've got to turn the temperature down in this country."

"We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and maintain our free society that we all are blessed to have," he added.

Trump and Biden have also called for unity in the US after the shooting.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Shannen Doherty died on Saturday at the age of 53.
• She discussed her funeral plans during a January episode of her podcast, "Let's Be Clear With Shannen Doherty."
• The actor said she wants to be cremated and have her remains mixed with her dog's and her father's.

Shannen Doherty had some ideas for her funeral before her death.

The "Beverly Hills, 90210" actor died on Saturday. In a January episode of her "Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty" podcast featuring guest Chris Cortazzo, she spoke about what she wanted her burial arrangements to be like.

"I want to be mixed with my dog, and I want to be mixed with my dad. I do not want to be buried. I want to be cremated," Doherty told Cortazzo, her best friend and the executor of her will.

She also mentioned being intrigued by the idea of using her remains to "grow a tree."

When Cortazzo mentioned that he would "wear" some of Dohery's remains around his neck as a necklace, Doherty said she had done the same with some of her father's remains.

"I did that with my dad. I had my dad around my neck for a little bit. I actually don't know where that necklace went, but I was having nightmares," Doherty said.

For her final resting place, Doherty said she would "have to find a place that my dad and I both really loved and meant a lot to us," adding that they spent their most precious time together in Malibu.

As for her funeral service, Doherty said she preferred a "shorter" list of attendees and wanted it to be held at her house, "but like a party."

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but went into remission in 2017. In 2020, she announced that her illness had returned as stage 4 cancer.

She had spent months getting her affairs in order. On an episode of her podcast that aired in April, Doherty said she was getting rid of her material possessions so her mother wouldn't have to worry about them after she died.

"It feels like you're giving up on something that was very special and important to you," she said. "But you know that it's the right thing to do and that it's going to give you a sense of peace and a sense of calm because you're helping the people that you leave behind just have a cleaner, easier transition."

Like Doherty, more and more Americans are opting for cremation instead of a traditional casket burial. According to data from the National Funeral Director's Association, the national cremation rate overtook the casket burial rate in 2015 and has been on the rise ever since.

Part of the reason is that cremations tend to be cheaper than burials: In 2021, the national median cost of a funeral with a viewing and burial was about $7,848, while the median cost of a funeral with cremation was about $6,971.

However, even cremation has a sizable impact on the environment, leading to alternatives like "aquamation," where a body is dissolved in a vessel, leaving behind bone minerals that are then ground up, or human composting, where a body is mixed with plant material and turned into soil.

A representative for Doherty did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• Russia says the Biden administration should be blamed for the Trump rally shooting.
• A Kremlin spokesperson said the Biden administration incited tensions that led to the attack.
• Trump allies like JD Vance have similarly accused the Biden administration of causing the attack.

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was indirectly caused by President Joe Biden and his administration, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Sunday.

"We don't think at all and don't believe that the attempt to eliminate the presidential candidate Trump was organized by the present power," Dmitry Peskov told reporters, per Russian state media outlet TASS.

"But it is the atmosphere that has been created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around the candidate Trump, prompted what America is facing today," he continued.

On Saturday, Trump was left wounded after a gunman tried to shoot him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

"I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday. "I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin."

The Secret Service said the attack killed one bystander and left two others critically injured. The rally shooter, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.

But Trump's life, Peskov said, had long been in danger.

"After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena using legal instruments at first, courts, the prosecutor's office, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in jeopardy," Peskov said on Sunday, referencing Trump's conviction in his Manhattan hush money criminal trial on May 30.

The Kremlin's remarks on Sunday echo that of Trump acolytes like Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia.

The trio were quick to point fingers at Biden following Saturday's failed assassination.

"The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination," Vance, a potential Trump vice presidential pick, said in an X post on Saturday.

"We can't protect our soldiers in Afghanistan. We can't protect our kids from illegals. We can't protect our streets from the criminals. We can't protect a former President giving a speech. This is Biden's America," Hawley said in an X post on Sunday.

Collins, on the other hand, went a step further and claimed, without evidence, that Biden had ordered Trump's assassination.

"The Republican District Attorney in Butler County, PA, should immediately file charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination," Collins said in an X post on Saturday.

Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also ripped the Democratic Party and accused them of inciting tensions before Saturday's assassination attempt.

"Don't tell me they didn't know exactly what they were doing with this crap. Calling my dad a 'dictator and a 'threat to Democracy' wasn't some one off comment. It has been the MAIN MESSAGE of the Biden-Kamala campaign and Democrats across the country!!!" Trump Jr. wrote on X on Sunday.

This isn't the first time Russia has sought to paint a picture of a dysfunctional America while weighing in on the country's political developments.

Last month, Putin said that Trump's Manhattan felony conviction was politically motivated and that the former president's rivals were "simply using the judicial system in an internal power struggle."

"They are burning themselves from the inside, their state, their political system," Putin told reporters at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, per Reuters.

Representatives for Russia's foreign ministry and the Biden administration didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• The Trump rally shooting was unsurprising, says Rachel Kleinfeld, an expert on political violence.
• That's because lawmakers and their incendiary comments created a climate of violence, Kleinfeld said.
• She named Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert as examples of people who helped "normalized violence."

Political leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert have created an environment in the US where violence is normalized, a political violence expert said in the wake of former President Donald Trump's attempted assassination.

Rachel Kleinfeld, an expert on political violence, told Politico she thinks it's "political leaders like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert or so on" who've been "amplifying the extremes" in the country.

Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added that she thought the best way to handle this rhetoric is to vote out people who try to "normalize violence." Per Politico, part of Kleinfeld's proposal would be to eliminate political primaries and go straight to a general election.

"When you have political leaders like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert or so on, who are elected with less than 10% of their voting public because it's just a small primary base, then you're allowing more extreme positions to put political leaders in place, who then continue normalizing violence," Kleinfeld said.

"When you change those incentive structures and force people to run in a general electorate, they can't be so incendiary," Kleinfeld added.

She also told Politico that she was not surprised that the attempt on Trump's life happened.

"Sadly, I am not surprised — given the reality of a tenfold rise in threats against members of Congress, increases in violence and threats against everyone, from people running for school board to state legislators, the doubling of serious threats against judges," she said to Politico.

"An attempted assassination on a presidential candidate was almost just a matter of time," she added.

Trump was shot at on Saturday during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He ducked for cover after gunshots went off but was later seen with streaks of blood on his face.

After the shooting, Greene blamed the incident on the Democratic Party.

"The Democrat party is flat out evil, and yesterday they tried to murder President Trump," she wrote on X.

Boebert paid condolences to Trump rally shooting victim Cory Comperatore, saying: "Corey should be here with us today, going to many more Trump rallies!

It's notable that Greene and Boebert have been two of the GOP's loudest advocates for guns and have been known to make controversial statements.

After the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, Greene said that she believed children should receive firearms training in school to protect themselves against shooters.

She also said in December 2022 that if she had planned the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, the people charging into the Capitol "would've been armed" and "would have won."

Boebert, meanwhile, previously owned a gun-themed restaurant called "Shooters Grill" in Rifle, Colorado.

In the restaurant, waitresses carried guns as part of their uniform, and customers could order dishes like the "M16 burrito" and a "bump stock corned beef hash."

On the morning of the January 6 riot, Boebert also tweeted: "This is 1776," a comment that's since been interpreted as a move to rile up the mob outside the Capitol.

On Sunday — less than a day after the Trump rally shooting — senior lawmakers like House Speaker Mike Johnson asked people to cool it with the heated rhetoric.

"We've got to turn the rhetoric down," Johnson said on Sunday. "We've got to turn the temperature down in this country."

"We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and maintain our free society that we all are blessed to have," he added.

Trump and Biden have also called for unity in the US after the shooting.

Representatives for Trump, Greene and Boebert did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.