Biden told donors 'it's time to put Trump in a bullseye' week before assassination attempt

On Monday, July 8, President Joe Biden got on a call with donors to allay their fears as to his campaign's viability after his miserable debate performance against Donald Trump. On that call, he said "it's time to put Trump in a bullseye." 

Politico described the president as "defiant" as he told donors it was time to move past the debate. He said he was "done talking about the debate," and told donors that it was time to stop attacking him and his faltering against the GOP frontrunner and to start attacking Trump, again, instead.

"We need to move forward," he told donors. "Look, we have roughly 40 days til the convention and 120 days til the election. We can't waste any more time being distracted."

Then he got more specific, saying "I have one job, and that's to beat Donald Trump. I'm absolutely certain I'm the best person to be able to do that. So we're done talking about the debate, it's time to put Trump in a bullseye." 

Politico called this a "forceful message from Biden," which was heard by "hundreds of top Democratic donors and bundlers in the president's National Finance Committee." 

In was the day after the debate, on June 28, that Biden said "Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. He's a threat to our freedom. He's a threat to our democracy. He's literally a threat to everything America stands for."

Biden has vowed to stay in the presidential race even as his poll numbers have dropped and those in his own party have offered concerns that he is a declining old man who will not recover from his "bad night" on the debate stage and will only have more "bad nights" as the next four months—and the ensuing four years of a potential second term—drag onward.

Biden's "bullseye" comment was noted by many on social media after a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday afternoon. The attempt was caught on video as a gunfire erupted and bullets began flying into the crowd. Trump grabbed his ear, pulled his hand away to see blood, and ducked beneath the podium.

As Secret Service ushered him off the stage, Trump raised his fist and told the crowd "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Biden spoke from the White House after the assissination attempt, saying the violence was "sick." And vowed to unite the country. He praised the Secret Service for their efforts. "The idea, the idea, that there's political violence in this country, it's just not appropriate," he said. The two presidents also spoke on the phone afterwards.

The man who shot Trump is believed to have taken aim with a rifle from a rooftop about 130 yards away. He was shot and killed seconds later by Secret Service.