Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) called on public officials to stop making “exaggerated threats about the importance of this election” in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
In multiple threads on the social platform “X,” moderate Democrats accused fellow politicians of portraying their political opponents as “demon caricatures bent on destroying the country” and “enemies bent on destroying us and who must be defeated at all costs.”
“Given this perspective, it is sadly unsurprising that politically motivated violence is on the rise in America,” Golden said. I have written About X.
Golden called on elected officials to use this opportunity to change the way they talk about their opponents.
“Continuing on this path will have dire consequences,” Golden said in a subsequent post. “Now is the time for our elected officials and candidates to lead us on a better path toward the hopeful future that the American people want and deserve.”
“Let’s start by stopping the hyperbolic threats about the importance of this election,” he continued in another post. “Stop misleadingly portraying it as a battle between democracy and authoritarianism, or against fascists and socialists trying to destroy America. These are dangerous lies.”
Golden’s statement came after Secret Service agents scrambled Trump off the stage at a rally in Pennsylvania after he was the target of what authorities called an assassination attempt. Trump’s ears were bleeding, but his family said shortly after the incident that he would be OK.
At the time of Golden’s post, little was known about the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Authorities later said he appeared to have acted alone and that a motive remained unknown as of late Sunday night.
Civil servants are similarly urged to refrain from escalating their speech.
Biden called for unity in a primetime address on Sunday, urging Americans to resolve their differences “with the ballot box, not with bullets.”
