Warren tones down attack mode
Says yes to debate, no to inciting violence
After a week that saw several outbursts of political violence, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called Republican rhetoric “concerning” — and acknowledged the left also has a tightrope to walk with its words.
“The most concerning part is when there are attacks on a free press, when there are statements about people who have engaged in violent behavior,” Warren said, referring to President Trump. “But, again, the person who commits the violence is the one who is ultimately responsible.”
Warren, who’s faced criticism herself for divisive rhetoric, said the left shouldn’t stop fighting hard — but needs to recognize where the line is.
“We’re all reminded after the shooting yesterday morning about how close we live to the potential for violence, and that it’s good to remind ourselves that we fight about issues because we care deeply — but that is very different from encouraging people to take violent actions,” Warren told the Herald yesterday. The senator used the health care debate as an example, saying, “We should have a loud, aggressive, vigorous debate over that, but that is very different from inciting people to violence.”
Her comments came a day after a man opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, killing 11 older Jews and wounding six other people, including four police officers. Police say the man arrested for doing it is a deranged anti-Semite. Earlier in the week, a Floridian Trump fanatic was captured and arrested on suspicion of mailing a dozen bombs to prominent Democrats and critics of the president. On Wednesday, police say, an armed white man tried to enter a black church in Kentucky before killing a black couple in a grocery store.
Many of Trump’s critics — including some of the apparent intended targets of the bombs — have blamed the president’s rhetoric, saying his bombast cre- ates an environment in which already-disturbed people see support for violent acts.
In response to the synagogue shooting, the president tweeted, “This evil Anti-Semitic attack is an assault on humanity. It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of Anti-Semitism from our world. We must unite to conquer hate.”
Trump also has placed the blame on the “fake news” media and the left, which he says have played a large part in stoking the flames. Last year, a man who authorities said was a left-wing supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shot at a group of Republican members of Congress who were playing softball, seriously wounding U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise.