Reid Hoffman, a mega-donor to President Joe Biden, weighed in over X on Sunday afternoon to share his thoughts on the assassination attempt against former and potentially future President Donald Trump. The shooting had taken place on Saturday night. That Hoffman finally weighed in is particularly significant, given that it was reported just last Friday how he had expressed wanting to make Trump into "an actual martyr."
The exchange was between him and former friend Peter Thiel at a summit in Idaho, as reported by Dylan Byers with Puck News.
Thiel had spoken about how Hoffman's funding of the lawsuits against Trump turned him into "a martyr," with Thiel telling Hoffman, "I am so grateful to you," with the effect it has on his chances for reelection. Hoffman retorted back with his comment: "I wish I had made him an actual martyr."
The first paragraph of Hoffman's lengthy post, included under the "First and everything" category is appropriate enough. He also rightfully concluded his post by pointing out "I am horrified and saddened by what happened to former President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery."
The post also speaks to the reports of Trump being made into "an actual martyr," which Hoffman looked to walk back, even throwing in an "Of course" there.
"A point of clarification on a recent comment of mine that has been reported out of context. At a recent business conference, Peter Thiel said that my lawsuit work against Trump was 'turning a clown into a martyr.' In that context, I replied that I wished that Trump would martyr himself - meaning let himself be held accountable - for his assaults on and lies about women," Hoffman wrote. "Of course I meant nothing about any sort of physical harm or violence, which I categorically deplore. I meant and mean accountability to the rule of law, such as unanimous guilty felony verdict by 12 jurors on 34 counts and an $84 million judgment for slander and lies about his sexual assault."
Hoffman also looked to make the assassination attempt a "both sides" issue as well, though.
After writing that "Everyone, on all sides of this election, should condemn political violence loudly and publicly," Hoffman went on to write that that includes President Joe Biden, also devoting an entire lengthy paragraph to Trump.
"It also includes President Trump. Instead of calling the January 6th insurrectionists 'heroes' whom he intends to pardon and even hire into government, he should speak out against political violence," Hoffman wrote. "When he warns against consequences of him losing the election, he should not predict a “bloodbath” in a way that might incite future protesters to violence against his political opponents. He should clearly indicate, which he never has, that political violence is evil and unacceptable – even if the perpetrators are trying to do it to benefit him."
First and everything: There is no place for political violence in our society. Assassination is not only categorically wrong, but is also the assassination of democracy. It is abhorrent that anyone has tried to assassinate President Trump. Everyone, on all sides of this…
— Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) July 14, 2024
Hoffman didn't merely use buzzwords like "insurrectionists" when bringing up the Democrats' favorite talking point of January 6. In doing so, he also left out how Trump called for people to "remain peaceful" and engage in "No violence!" It was a call he made over social media that very day, not long before his accounts were shut down.
In going with the "bloodbath" narrative, Hoffman also leaves out how the full context of Trump's remarks, at a rally in Ohio in March, makes it abundantly clear that he was talking about an economic bloodbath to do with the auto industry.
Hoffman also gave Biden a shout-out of sorts, highlighting how the president said, "There’s no place in America for this kind of violence." Both Hoffman and Biden left out, though, examples of violence against conservatives, despite how the president had ample opportunity to mention such examples during his remarks from Sunday night. There was no mention of the plot against Justice Brett Kavanaugh from June 2022, the brutal assault Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) faced over a neighborly dispute in November 2017, and how House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) was shot and nearly killed while practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game in June 2017.
In the just over 24 hours since Hoffman's post has been up, he's received close to 8,000 replies and over 600 quoted replies, many of them taking issue with his "both sides" position.
As Sam J. at our sister site of Twitchy highlighted, Megyn Kelly was out with one of the best responses to Hoffman, as she pointed out that her "multiple sources" in the room when Hoffman made those comments all took away that he "wanted Trump dead."
Your very attempt to”both sides” it reveals your insincerity. I have multiple sources who were in the room when you said it and everyone took away the same meaning: you wanted Trump dead. You’re not fooling anyone. https://t.co/bzh5PS58w3
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) July 15, 2024