“I am sick of the shootings of former President Trump,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on X. “I cannot emphasize enough that political violence will never be tolerated.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “political violence in any form has no place in our society.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, “This is a wake-up call for everyone, regardless of their political stance, to oppose all hatred and violence and, for the sake of our democracy, to restore dignity and honor to politics.”
Concerns were also expressed by countries that have experienced political violence in recent years.
“We must resolutely stand up against any violence that challenges our democracy. I pray for former President Trump’s speedy recovery,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Last year, Kishida was forced to retreat from election campaigning after what appeared to be a smoke bomb was hurled at him. In 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed while campaigning.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the shooting “unacceptable” and said it should be strongly condemned by “all defenders of democracy and political dialogue.” Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed to death during a campaign rally before taking office as Brazil’s president in 2018.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “such violence is unjustified and has no place anywhere in the world.” Zelensky, who is at war with Russia, was the target of thwarted assassination plots in 2022, 2023 and 2024, according to Ukrainian officials.
Other leaders also sent their congratulations to Trump. “China is closely monitoring the shooting incident involving President Trump, and President Xi Jinping has expressed his sympathies to President Trump,” a foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Trump a “friend” and said he was “deeply concerned” about him. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “shocked” and wished Trump a “safe and speedy recovery.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Expressed Orban offered his “thoughts and prayers” to Trump during what he called a “dark hour.” Orban, Europe’s most prominent far-right leader, is an open supporter of Trump and visited him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday.
Condemnation of the violence came from people who had been at the scene earlier. Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, who has previously called Trump a “racist cowboy,” posted on X that “we reject and categorically deny the attacks.”
However, some countries have used the incident as ammunition to attack the United States and its government.
“The arms trade and increasing political violence in the United States are giving rise to incidents like those that took place on Saturday,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted.
The Kremlin accused the Biden administration of creating a political “atmosphere” that “provoked” the assassination attempt amid deteriorating relations with Washington.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that the U.S. administration “prefers to resolve all issues from a position of strength,” including the “use of force” in international affairs, and that “now this violence has spilled over into the country.”
The Kremlin condemned the attack and wished the injured a speedy recovery. Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had no plans to call Trump after the shooting.
Nigel Farage, a member of the British parliament and leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, blamed the media for the shooting.
“The mainstream media is spreading a hate narrative against my friend Donald Trump,” Farage wrote to X. “I hope they are proud of themselves. Terrible people.”
Farage said he would be visiting the US this week to support Trump. The party’s convention runs from Monday to Thursday in Milwaukee. Trump intends to attend the convention as scheduled, his campaign said in a statement on Sunday night.
Mary Ilyushina, Kelly Kasulis Cho and Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report.