Condemning political violence should be easy... and everybody does it when a Republican is the target. It’s often a different story when supporters of Donald Trump commit these crimes.
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When the Secret Service chased off a man with a weapon on Donald Trump’s golf course on Sunday while the president was playing not far away, all top Democrats immediately condemned political violence.
“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that [the] Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety,” stated President Joe Biden.
“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the upcoming election. “Violence has no place in America.”
Their sentiment was echoed by the party’s leader in Congress.
“There is no place in this country for political violence of any kind,” stated Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY). “The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) wrote that “political violence has no place in a democratic society.”
We are not telling you this because these reactions are particularly insightful or commendable.
In fact, it should be the easiest thing to condemn political violence and those who commit it.
Republicans certainly manage to do so if the target is one of their own.
If not, however, some of them seem to have a much harder time with the concept of rejecting this type of violence.
And that starts with Trump himself.
The best example is, of course, the deadly insurrection he sparked on January 6.
As president at the time, Trump looked on as his supporters stormed the Capitol on his behalf, attacked cops, and called for his Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged.
Since then, he and many other Republicans have called those convicted of crimes associated with the insurrection “patriots,” and Trump has suggested that he will pardon them if elected once more.
And, just last week, the former president made light of the attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
“Nancy Pelosi has a big wall wrapped around her house. Of course, it didn’t help too much with the problem she had, did it?” Trump said in reference to that attack.
While many senior Republicans, especially those of the “old guard,” did the right thing back then and unequivocally condemned the attack, others did not.
That not only included Trump and his son Donald Jr., but also other conservatives… while some GOP lawmakers simply did nothing.
It wasn’t always like that.
A great example is the shooting of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2011. Back then, Republican leaders issued strong statements condemning the assassination attempt and rejecting political violence.
Now, however, with a much more combative GOP led by a man who stokes division like no other, you can’t count on Republicans to do the bare minimum and reject political violence in all cases.
That’s something to think about when they suggest that it is Democrats, and not their own leader, who need to tone down their rhetoric.
