On Friday, October 25th, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and the Minority Leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, issued a joint statement urging Democratic presidential candidate and vice president nominee Kamala Harris to cease using “dangerous rhetoric.”
After Harris publicly stated her belief that Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is a fascist, Republican leaders sounded the alarm on Harris’s dangerous remarks. Following two assassination attempts on Trump, they expressed concern that the vice president’s statements could attract more individuals seeking to harm Trump.
Johnson and McConnell, in a joint statement on Friday, warned, “Labeling political opponents as fascists may attract more assassins.”
They urged Harris to take seriously the continuous threats against Trump from America’s enemies and to stop “escalating the risk environment.”
“The chilling call left by the man who was ambushed in Florida says, ‘Let’s see if you can accomplish the mission now’,” Johnson and McConnell stated in their joint declaration, referring to assassination suspect Ryan Routh, who attempted to assassinate Trump.
Republican leaders also called on Harris to abandon “dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric that jeopardizes American lives and the American system” if she wishes for the American people to trust her executive power.
On Wednesday, during a town hall meeting hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Harris mentioned that several of Trump’s former White House staff, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and former Chief of Staff John Kelly, no longer support Trump.
When asked whether she considered Trump a fascist, she replied, “Yes, I do.”
The day before, Kelly, in a media interview, claimed that Trump is a fascist who wanted his generals to pledge allegiance to him akin to Nazi leader Hitler.
Trump and several of his former aides have condemned Kelly’s false statements regarding Trump.
Former presidential candidate and Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also responded to Harris’s recent comments. He stated on social media on Wednesday, “Such rhetoric is divisive and incendiary poison that stirs up assassins.”
“Epoch Times” has reached out to Harris’s campaign team for comment.