Johnson and McConnell criticize Harris’ ‘dangerous rhetoric’ about Trump

As donald trumpThe rhetoric grows more incendiary in the final election days, speaker of the House Michael Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have denounced the “dangerous rhetoric” coming from a candidate: Kamala Harris.

in a joint statement On Friday, Republican leaders criticized Harris for what they called her “reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century,” referring to her agree with the assessment of Trump’s former chief of staff John Kellywho said that the Republican candidate qualifies as “fascist.”

Johnson and McConnell urged Harris to “abandon basic, irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions,” saying it could lead to another attempt on Trump’s life.

“Labeling a political opponent ‘fascist’ risks inviting another would-be assassin to try to rob voters of their choice before Election Day,” they said.

Johnson and McConnell seem unaware of, or unbothered by, the deep irony of ignoring Trump’s own rhetoric. Trump has made insulting his opponents in deeply personal terms a hallmark of his political career. as i noticedhis rhetoric has become more threatening and his attacks on his opponents more belligerent. Just in the last week, he called Harris “dumb“, “idiot“, “a shitty vice president,” to “lunatic”, and baselessly suggested that she has a substance abuse problem. What’s more, Trump himself has explicitly called Harris a “fascist” during the election campaign, without Johnson or McConnell saying anything.

That Republican leaders would admonish Harris instead of Trump fits a pattern of Republicans who dismiss, defend or feign ignorance of their candidate’s decisions most outrageous rhetoric. Meanwhile, Harris stood her ground and responded to Johnson and McConnell’s statement by saying that “no one should be subjected to violence, much less political violence.”

“But,” he added, “the American people deserve to be presented with the facts and the truth.”