August 31, 2022

President Biden is expected to host a White House summit in September aimed at combating a spate of hate-fueled violence in the U.S. as he works to deliver on his campaign pledge to "heal the soul of the nation." The problem is that many Republican officials have become radicalized and refuse to tone it down.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the President saying that he would be a unifying figure.

"Does the White House believe that this is a fair criticism by Republicans that this is not unifying language?" a reporter asked.

The reporter was, of course, talking about Biden accurately referring to MAGA Republicans as semi-fascists, and he's not wrong. We could list dozens of examples, but they and Trump still want to overturn the fair election in 2020. That's fascist.

Jean-Pierre referred to threatening statements made by Reps. Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Sporkfoot, Madison Cawthorn, and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis recently said about our nation's top infectious disease expert, "Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac."

Wow, so badass.

Gosar tweeted a clip depicting him attacking President Biden and members of Congress. Marjorie Taylor Greene has suggested shooting prominent Democratic elected officials and suggested physically assaulting transgender school officials. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who was primaried out in May, called for "bloodshed" over the big lie of massive voter fraud that doesn't exist. (Full transcript of her answer is below)

It's as if that reporter is oblivious to all the violent rhetoric coming from the right. Biden can't do this by himself. Republicans have to meet him halfway and stop the violent rhetoric.

UPDATE: Here is the full transcript of her answer, which was masterful:

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I'll say this, Nancy: Sadly, there are more examples than I can count on how we have seen recently armed attacks on federal law enforcement.

There are a couple of things I just want to say here.

You have Representative Paul Gosar has posted videos depicting him attacking the President and members of Congress.

You have Representative Majority [sic] Tay- -- Marjorie Taylor Greene has publicly expressed support for shooting prominent Democratic elected officials and suggesting physically assaulting transgender school officials.

You have Representative Madison Cawthorn has said, falsely, “If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it's going to lead to one place, and that's bloodshed.”

And just last week, you had Governor Ron DeSantis suggested that Dr. Fauci should be physically assaulted. And former President Trump has done the same many, many times.

Look, and many of your colleagues have actually talked about and reported on this dangerous trend that we're seeing. And -- for example, the New York Times headline from this month -- “As Right-Wing Rhetoric Escalates, So Do Threats and Violence.”

And so, these are things that we have to call out.

Again, I was talking -- I can't remember who just asked me the question -- I was talking about soul of the nation, something the President has talked about since 2017 when he wrote that article in The Atlantic. And he's called it out then. He called it out January 6th. He called it out Inauguration Day. He called it out last week. He called it out yesterday.

So there has been a consistent callout from the President about what he's seeing from an extreme part of -- of this party, of the Republican Party. And historians, I would argue, would say the same.

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