Speaker Johnson: ‘Everyone Needs To Turn The Rhetoric Down’

​(RepublicanReport.org) – On July 13, a Pennsylvania man allegedly attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, PA. The GOP presidential nominee was reportedly grazed on the ear, while an innocent bystander was killed, and two others in the crowd were critically wounded. The suspected shooter was also killed. After the incident, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had a suggestion for Americans.

On July 14, the speaker appeared on NBC’s “Today” show, where he said, “Everyone needs to turn the rhetoric down.” He suggested that when people say Trump “would be a threat to democracy” and end the US as we know it, “it heats up the environment.” Johnson said that while the United States has people on different sides of the aisle with opposing viewpoints, it’s important to remember that “we’re all American[s]” at the end of the day. The lawmaker called for people to show “dignity and respect” to one another.

However, not all of Johnson’s colleagues had the same reaction to the shooting incident. Representative Mike Collins (R-GA) called for charges to be filed against President Joe Biden for “inciting an assassination.” Even the House speaker himself pointed the finger at the sitting president. He mentioned Biden’s words of putting a “bull’s-eye on Trump” but quickly added, “That kind of language, on either side, should be called out.” Whether Americans, both Republican and Democrat, will heed the advice moving forward remains to be seen.

The motive for the shooting is still unknown. The suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was a 20-year-old registered Republican who worked in a nursing home. He didn’t have a record and reportedly used his father’s registered AR-15-style rifle in the shooting. The FBI is still investigating the matter to find a potential motive and to determine how Crooks was able to climb onto a nearby rooftop with a weapon during the rally.

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