Political violence does not affect one side of the aisle over the other. Those who have been attacked are “… all Americans. They’re all precious in God’s eyes.”
Those were the words said by Joe Scarborough on Tuesday’s episode of “Morning Joe.”
Scarborough spoke of murders and attacks on Democratic leaders, saying political violence is not “one-sided,” per Mediaite.
Scarborough’s words came after a clip was shown of President Donald Trump Monday during a press conference when he was asked why the flags were not lowered to half-staff for Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman.
Hortman, her husband and dog were shot in her home in June.
Trump, according to the Mediaite report, said he was “not familiar” with her case.
A report in The Hill quoted Trump as saying he was not asked.
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that, but the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” Trump said, referring to, but not naming Gov. Tim Walz (D).
Watch:
Last week, Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist, who was killed while talking on a Utah college campus Sept. 10.
Scarborough took issue with the rhetoric that political violence is a “one-sided issue.” He listed instances when Democratic leaders and family members have been targeted.
“I must say, I have been baffled over the past several days by people like Stephen Miller talking about this being a one-sided issue when just a few months ago the most powerful Democrat in the state of Minnesota was gunned down in her family’s home,” Scarborough said. “Melissa was an elected leader… She taught Sunday school. She and her husband left two young children. Gunned down in their own home.”
“Or maybe we should talk that same night about the madman who had a hit list of 42 Democrats on it, who then went over and shot nine times, the state senator that Melissa Hortman worked with,” Scarborough continued. “[Minnesota State Senator] John Hoffman, took nine shots to his body. His wife, Yvette, took eight shots to her body inside their family home.”
He also talked about the attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in April as he, his wife and children were sleeping inside their home.
The perpetrator had expressed he wanted to beat Shapiro “to death” with a hammer.
“This, of course, reminds us of the madman that broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home screaming, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ — a chant eerily reminiscent of what we heard on January 6th,” Scarborough said.
“Anybody who celebrates political violence is sick. They are sick. Sick! Those who tried to brush aside political violence when it’s the other side that gets shot or gets beaten or gets burned out of their family homes, they’re sick,” Scarborough said. “But that madman goes in and critically wounds Paul Pelosi, I believe, an 82-year-old man who will never be the same, who just barely survived death.”
“What did we hear after Paul Pelosi, an 82-year-old man gets brutalized and hit in the head with, what do we hear?” Scarborough asked. “We heard laughter. We heard jokes repeatedly from the president of the United States. I remember watching him speak to the California Republican Party and they died laughing. They thought it was hysterical that an 82-year-old man was almost beaten to death in his own home by a hammer.”
“How you can sit back sanctimoniously and say that this is a civil war and it’s all one side when we see the pain and the agony visited upon families and children of Charlie Kirk, of the Hortmans, of the Pelosis,” he said of Republicans.
“Some of you are saying, ‘Oh, they deserved it. They’re Democrats.’ Don’t do that. Don’t do that. They’re all Americans. They’re all Americans. They’re all precious in God’s eyes. And the attack against them must be condemned as strongly as possible,” he continued.
“But to use Charlie Kirk’s death, or if Democrats tried to use Melissa Hortman’s death, leaders – I’m talking about elected leaders, not freaks on the outer fringes of social media – it’s just despicable. It’s just absolutely despicable,” Scarborough said.
“I don’t know who you think you’re lying to, but we know there’s a problem on both sides. We have to come together or this will continue,” he said.
