Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have blamed the Democrats’ “incendiary language” for inciting two gunmen to try to assassinate the former US president.

The Republican presidential candidate, who is known for using inflammatory language, accused his political rivals of “causing me to be shot at”.

Trump cited their “communist left rhetoric” and claimed the gunman who lurked on his golf course on Sunday (US time) was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language”, though authorities have not yet offered evidence of any motive.

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out,” he said, according to Fox.

In a post to X, Trump on Tuesday (AEST) further said: “Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!”

Trump’s Democrat presidential rival Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden both issued statements expressing relief that Trump was not harmed when a gunman was arrested for allegedly trying to shoot him at his Florida golf course.

Trump’s running mate JD Vance on Tuesday (AEST) said the big difference between conservatives and liberals was that “no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months”.

“I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric, and needs to cut this crap out,” he said.

Trump’s campaign accused the Democrats of using “increasingly incendiary” language against the former president in the months before both assassination attempts.

They singled out Harris for calling Trump “a threat to our democracy and fundamental freedoms” and warning of the “threat [Trump] poses”.

Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller slammed Harris for “incitement”.

“Why hasn’t Kamala told her supporters yet that Trump is not a threat to democracy, is not a dictator, and condemned her party’s relentless demonisation of Republicans as ‘Nazis who ‘must be stopped’,” Miller posted on X.

“When will she take accountability for her & her party’s rhetoric of incitement?”

Texas Republican Pat Fallon said Trump had repeatedly been compared to Nazis, Hitler and fascists, which another Republican, Chuck Hernandez, said put in people’s minds that “we need to stop them”.

“What’s going on is we’re creating too much of a heated rhetoric. And it’s not coming from the right. It’s coming from the left,” Hernandez told Eyewitness News.

“When you compare Donald Trump to Hitler over and over, that is put in people’s minds that we need to stop him.

“Thankfully, the would-be assassin was stopped by the heroic action of law enforcement – but make no mistake, this psycho was egged on by the rhetoric and lies that have flowed from Kamala Harris, Democrats, and their Fake News allies for years.”

The man suspected of attempting to assassinate Trump appeared in court a day after he was spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at the former US president’s Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court – possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

The incident raised fresh questions about how an armed suspect was able to get so close to Trump, just two months after another gunman fired at the former president during a July 13 rally at Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.

Elon Musk’s post condemned

Meanwhile, the US Secret Service says it is aware of a post by billionaire Elon Musk on the X social media platform musing about a lack of assassination attempts on Biden and Harris.

A Trump supporter and the CEO of Tesla, Musk wrote on Sunday: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” a post he ended with an emoji of a face with a raised eyebrow.

He was quickly criticised by X users from the left and right, who said they were concerned his words to his nearly 200 million X followers could incite violence against Biden and Harris.

Musk deleted the post but not before the Secret Service, which protects current and former US presidents, vice presidents and other notable officials, took notice.

“The Secret Service is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence,” a spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

“We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees.”

The spokesperson would not say if the agency had reached out to Musk, who seemed to suggest in follow-up posts that he had been making a joke.

“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X,” he wrote.

“Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

-with AAP