House Democrat: ‘Hyperbolic’ rhetoric about election makes violence ‘unsurprising’

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) called on elected officials to drop the “hyperbolic threats about the stakes of this election” in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

In a series of posts on the social platform X, the moderate Democrat chastised his fellow politicians for portraying their political opponents as “diabolical caricatures bent on destroying the country” and as “enemies who would ruin us, to be defeated at all costs.”

“In this light, a rise of politically motivated violence in America is sadly unsurprising,” Golden wrote on X.

Golden called on the elected officials to use this moment to change the way they talk about their opponents.

“Continuing down this path would be disastrous,” Golden said in a subsequent post. “This is the moment for elected officials and candidates for political office to lead us down a better road toward the hopeful future that Americans want and deserve.”

“We can start by dropping hyperbolic threats about the stakes of this election,” he continued in a separate post. “It should not be misleadingly portrayed as a struggle between democracy or authoritarianism, or a battle against fascists or socialists bent on destroying America. These are dangerous lies.”

Golden’s statement comes after Trump was targeted in what officials are calling an assassination attempt, prompting Secret Service officials to whisk the former president off stage at his Pennsylvania rally. Trump’s ear was bloodied, but his family said shortly after the incident that he would be fine.

At the time of Golden’s post, not much was known about the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Officials have subsequently said it appears he was acting alone and his motive was still unknown, as of late Sunday.

Public officials have similarly called for a de-escalation of rhetoric.

Biden called for unity during his prime-time address Sunday, urging Americans to resolve their differences “at the ballot box, not with bullets.”