Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday called for Republicans to temper their rhetoric after the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life during the party’s national convention, which began on Monday.
During an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Psaki argued that it was the GOP’s responsibility to “restore civility” to political discourse. “The convention is starting and unless the programming changes, the rhetoric and how the programming is set up is not actually calming the tone or restoring civility,” she said before asserting that if the programming “stays the same, that is escalating it.”
Host Kristin Welker discussed President Joe Biden pulling his political ads after the attempt on Trump’s life and asked Psaki how she thinks the president “sees his role right now.”
Psaki replied, saying Biden responded, “as a human being” and said that is “how everybody should be responding.
“For anyone out there who has a platform who thinks the moment right now is to be political and attack the other party, you are feeding into the danger,” Psaki continued. “You are making it more likely there’s retaliation. I’m incredibly scared. I’m scared for journalists. I’m scared for people who have public platforms of all parties, and that’s how people should feel.”
WATCH: @jrpsaki says anyone being “political” after the attempted assassination of former President Trump is “feeding into the danger.”
“I’m incredibly scared,” she says. pic.twitter.com/GhE0inl9C8
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 14, 2024
President Biden was recently asked about incendiary comments he reportedly made on a phone call with wealthy donors who are hesitant to continue pouring funds into his campaign.
“I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to [beat Donald Trump]. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” the president is alleged to have said.
When asked by NBC News anchor Lester Holt about his comments, which were made days before the attempt on Trump’s life, he struggled to provide a reasonable excuse, claiming that he did not use the word “crosshairs” as had been erroneously reported by various media outlets.
“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when the president says things like he says? Do you just not say something because it may incite somebody?” Biden asked.
The president insisted that he had not “engaged in that rhetoric” and that it was Trump who was using heated language on the campaign trail.
You can always tell whether someone believes their own arguments by looking at how they apply them when it comes to people they like. Currently, there are plenty of leftists celebrating the shooting, some even complaining that the shooter only grazed Trump’s ear.
Since Trump came onto the stage, the alleged journalists that Psaki is supposedly “scared” for have been employing incendiary rhetoric against the former president. You can’t constantly pretend a leader is Hitler and then act surprised when someone takes a shot at him. Unfortunately, it appears that even the attempted assassination of a former president isn’t enough to get these people to do some self-reflection.
