The daughter of Ronald Reagan is citing her father’s shooting as evidence that comments like Donald Trump’s recent blast against Hillary Clinton have real-world consequences.
“To Donald Trump: I am the daughter of a man who was shot by someone who got his inspiration from a movie, someone who believed if he killed the President the actress from that movie would notice him,” Patti Davis wrote in a Facebook post that went up late Wednesday night.
“Your glib and horrifying comment about ‘Second Amendment people’ was heard around the world,” Davis continued. “It was heard by sane and decent people who shudder at your fondness for verbal violence. It was heard by your supporters, many of whom gleefully and angrily yell, ‘Lock her up!’ at your rallies. It was heard by the person sitting alone in a room, locked in his own dark fantasies, who sees unbridled violence as a way to make his mark in the world, and is just looking for ideas,” Davis wrote. “Yes, Mr. Trump, words matter. But then you know that, which makes this all even more horrifying.”
During a campaign rally Tuesday, Trump had said “Second Amendment people” could do something to stop Clinton — a remark some interpreted as inciting violence. Trump has accused the media of distorting his comments.
John Hinckley shot Reagan in March 1981, after being inspired by the 1976 film “Taxi Driver,” in which Robert DeNiro’s character plots to assassinate a presidential candidate. Hinckley has been ordered released from a Washington psychiatric hospital last month.