Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister who was seriously injured in an attempted assassination shooting in May, has said the Trump attack was a “carbon copy” scenario and blamed hostile media and Trump’s political opponents for creating an atmosphere of hate.
The populist prime minister of Slovakia, who only recently re-emerged into the public eye after he was shot multiple times in the abdomen by an activist and government critic, said the attempt on President Trump’s life was like a “carbon copy” in a statement on Sunday morning.
Writing about how a hostile media environment creates “the urge” in some to “sort things out” with violence and implying things had happened in the United States on Saturday as they already had in Slovakia months ago as if “through carbon copy [paper]“, Mr Fico stated his opinion that creating an assassination attempt had been part of the plan of Trump’s enemies.
He said: “The political opponents of [Donald Trump] try to shut him up and when that fails, they antagonise the public so much that some loser picks up a gun.”
Again relating to the situation in Slovakia after his own attempted assassination, Prime Minister Fico reflected with irony that the media and political opposition to Trump having created such an environment, they would now pivot and preach about the importance of peaceful dialogue. He wrote: “And now we will witness speeches about the need for reconciliation, appeasement and forgiveness”.
Just two days before the shooting of President Trump, PM Fico had also written on attacks against populists: “We operate in an atmosphere that when it is impossible to democratically defeat us, we need to be illegally locked up. If it doesn’t work, some activist needs to be provoked to [attempt assassination]. Working in such an atmosphere is not easy, but we can manage it.”
Fico was shot at close range several times while greeting members of the public on May 15th. He was injured in the gut, hip, arm, leg, and his small intestine was perforated five times. He was critically injured and according to hospital authorities came close to death during emergency surgery to save his life.
The assassin, a 71-year-old poet, was arrested at the scene and subsequently confessed to the act and agreed to assist police with their investigation. It has been reported the motivation for the attack was the gunman’s strong disagreement with Fico’s policy of seeking peace in Ukraine, and not sending Slovak military aid to Kyiv.
In his first public address after the shooting, the Slovakian prime minister said he forgave the gunman and said he wouldn’t even pursue legal action against him, but stated he blamed the media for goading the public into violence. As reported in June:
“On May 15th, an activist of the Slovak opposition tried to assassinate me… because of my political views”, Fico said, before making clear while he totally forgave the gunman, he absolutely condemned the media and political environment that created the circumstances in which a politician would be subjected to assassination.
The Slovak populist told the country he would “make the first move” towards peace in the country through forgiveness. He said: “I feel no hatred towards the stranger who shot me. I will not take any legal action against him, nor will I seek damages compensation. I forgive him and let him sort out what he did and why he did it in his own head.”
The gunman was “only the messenger of evil and political hatred”, and not a “lone madman” as had been claimed in the early days after the shooting, Fico remarked, stating the febrile environment in the country was being stoked by the “politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition”.
Fico namechecked “anti-government media, foreign-funded political non-governmental organisations” and U.S. based, Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros and criticised the “opinion-forming media” for tolerating and giving cover for political hated and aggression. The Soros-funded media in particular should not now seek to play down what had happened and why, Fico remarked.