House Republicans Call For An End To Violent Rhetoric On The Anniversary Of Butler Shooting

WASHINGTON—The Republican Study Committee marked the anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump by warning of the dangers of violent political rhetoric.

Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) on Monday introduced a resolution condemning the attempts on Trump’s life as well as “those who incite violence against political officials.” The resolution specifically mentioned the recent fatal shooting of a Minnesota state representative, and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro’s home.

Pfluger and Kelly discussed the resolution in a Monday press conference, saying that it was up to lawmakers to combat violent rhetoric, lest it lead people to violence.

“We can pass resolution after resolution. We can go to church on Sunday and abhor what’s taking place and we leave that church and we go out and we practice what we just condemned in our churches,” Kelly said. “The illness has far deeper roots than we know.”

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) said the would-be assassin who shot Trump last year in Butler, Pennsylvania, was inspired by the Left’s violent rhetoric.

“Leftists on the other side of the aisle were slandering that same then presidential candidate, saying that he is a threat to democracy, that he’s a wannabe dictator, that he is literally Hitler, in their words,” he said. “And some people on their side of the aisle take those words at face value. And they tried to assassinate him.”

Several Study Committee members noted that they had received death threats. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she received a syringe in the mail; Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) said he was run off the road, and Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) said his daughters were both sent envelopes containing “urine, blood, and feces” that read “This will be on your father’s tombstone.”

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) told The Daily Wire that his district offices examined their own security after the June 14 assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman.

But, Harris said he’s “not sure there’s enough money in the world to actually solve the problem because the problem comes from individuals, and there are plenty of individuals that are on the edge.”

Harris said the resolution was “simply calling out everybody to dial back the rhetoric and recognizing how we’ve got to somehow in this nation get back to having civil discourse.”

“One of the things that is so clear to me is we’ve allowed our politics to become far more focused on personalities and persons than we have focused on policy,” Harris added. “Unfortunately, when you don’t really have anything to say that people will buy into for policy, then you choose to just go after a person. That’s where you get into trouble.”

And while Harris noted that “you can’t legislate” violent rhetoric away, he said that political leaders nevertheless “have a responsibility to talk about the issue.”

Still, he said, the only way for things to really change is for “the American people say enough is enough” and “start punishing the politicians that are attacking personalities.”