President Biden’s anodyne remarks would have packed a bigger punch if he had mentioned more than just the most recent attack on a Republican figure.
President Biden, addressing the nation last night:
We cannot — we must not go down this road in America. We’ve traveled it before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on January 6th, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump.
That’s a fine sentiment from Biden. But his remarks would have packed a bigger punch if he had mentioned more than just the most recent attack on a Republican figure. It’s not like there’s a shortage of incidents to mention from recent years. There was the attempted massacre of congressional Republicans at baseball practice in Alexandria, leaving GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise critically injured and several others hurt; Kentucky senator Rand Paul getting attacked by his neighbor; the woman who tried to run Representative David Kustoff off the road; the man who was arrested with a gun and a knife outside the house of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh who told police he intended to murder the justice; the attempted mass shooting at the headquarters of the Family Research Council; the man who tried to stab New York congressman and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin while he was on stage; or . . . well, you get the idea.
“Violence has never been the answer” is a fine, if anodyne, message.
“Violence has never been the answer, and some deranged people on my side of the aisle, who think they speak for my party and my values, need to heed that message too,” is a much more powerful one.