Politicians across the political spectrum have called for calming political rhetoric after the attempted assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. The problem is, though, treating political opponents as enemies isn’t just a rhetoric issue.
Take Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and chairman of the Jan. 6 committee. Thompson recently had to fire one of his staffers after she wished for a second shooter to target Trump to not miss next time. More alarming, though, is that Thompson introduced a bill just three months ago trying to strip Trump of his Secret Service protection if Trump were to be sentenced to jail time.
This is a common thread in the Democratic Party. House Democrats slow-walked increased security for Supreme Court justices even after a man planning to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh (and two others) was arrested. Kavanaugh was among the justices threatened by then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who Schumer said would “pay the price” and “won’t know what hit” them if they ruled in a way Democrats didn’t like.
This attitude extends into the Biden administration. President Joe Biden’s Justice Department played into the notion that parents objecting to policies from left-wing school boards were akin to terrorists. Biden’s Justice Department is also actively targeting pro-life protesters to throw in jail over peaceful protests. And who can forget Colorado’s now-12-year crusade to destroy the life of a Christian baker for the crime of being religious? Biden promised to take up fights like that as well during the 2020 campaign, threatening to drag nuns to court over birth control.
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This all extends beyond just rhetoric. These are policy decisions and legal decisions that treat political opponents as enemies using the power of the government. Democrats could tomorrow stop implying or stating that anyone who disagrees with them is an extremist threat to democracy, but the wielding of governmental power to destroy their opponents would continue to send that message to the country and erode whatever tolerance is left in our political culture.
The words are nice, but the actions of the Democratic Party must match the new, softer rhetoric Democrats are saying is needed. Until they match, these are just empty promises that do little to actually turn down the political temperature in this country.