Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania), who attended a rally on Saturday marking the day former President Trump survived an assassination attempt, is trying to ease political tensions by calling on Americans to take personal responsibility for their words.
“Physically I’m OK. Mentally I’m OK. But … this has got to stop. It has got to stop,” Kelly told The Hill in a phone interview Sunday.
“It’s time to really reflect on what’s happened to America. This is not the America I grew up in. This is not the America my parents lived through the Great Depression and World War II to secure a future. But we’re now like a Third World country,” Kelly said. “It’s not the United States of America anymore. It’s an America divided. And it’s too radical.”
Kelly, who represents Butler, Pennsylvania, where the rally took place, attended the event with his wife, grandchildren and other family members, as well as many of his staff members, all of whom were unharmed.
He said it was a “surreal” scene when Trump was shot, hearing a “pop-pop” sound as he fell to the ground and looking up at people in the stands with screams and blood on their shirts.
“The reality is, you have to take responsibility for what you say, and I think we need to start taking that responsibility personally,” Kelly added. “This is not about any particular political party, this is not about any particular group of people.”
President Trump said in a statement that the bullet “pierced” his right ear. One rally attendee was killed and two others seriously injured. The suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, also died.
In the wake of the shooting, Republicans have launched an investigation into the security at the rally, the House Oversight Committee has called Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to a hearing, and the House Homeland Security Committee has requested numerous documents and information from the Department of Homeland Security.
Asked about concerns expressed by other Republican lawmakers about the security posture, Kerry said it was “premature to assign blame.”
“The question is, ‘Why did this young man decide that day to kill a presidential candidate?'” Kelly said. “I don’t believe the Secret Service could have done anything to counter any law enforcement agency that does something like that. It starts in the hearts and minds of men and women.”
Kelly also praised Secret Service agents for rushing to cover the former president.
“It’s time for the whole country, the whole nation, to wake up,” Kelly said. “This has become intolerable.”
Kerry also suggested that in order to cool the political rhetoric, people should start by examining their own words.
“If you want to know how to fix this country, find a mirror, look in it and ask yourself: ‘Am I in some way responsible for this? Are some of the things I’ve texted or said to people responsible?'” Kelly said.
