The morning after the attempted assassination targeting Donald Trump, Sen. Raphael Warnock did what the Georgia Democrat does just about every Sunday: He delivered a sermon from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Not surprisingly, Warnock condemned the shooting, prayed for the former president’s well-being and said how thankful he was that Trump wasn’t seriously hurt.
But Warnock also took some time to widen the aperture.
As a Washington Post report noted, Warnock said the man who tried to kill Trump “was no patriot — and neither were the people who attacked our Capitol and assaulted police officers and tried to stop the nonviolent transfer of political power on Jan. 6.” The senator added, “They are cut from the same cloth. We must cry foul, we must call out the hypocrisy of anybody who would try to condone one and condemn the other.”
These comments came to mind hours later, as President Joe Biden delivered an Oval Office address that touched on a very similar message. Like Warnock, the Democratic president condemned the attempt on his rival’s life, and like the senator, Biden also took care to contextualize the violence. From the transcript:
“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.”
Biden moments later, “There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
This is a tricky needle to thread. On the one hand, Biden and his allies have been categorical in denouncing the assassination attempt. Democratic officials have steered clear of finger-pointing and conspiracy theories, recognizing the seriousness of the shooting and the importance of condemning what happened in no uncertain terms.
On the other hand, the incumbent president and his allies also want to remind the public that a responsible part of any conversation about political violence is Trump’s own record.
As recently as a few months ago, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee sat down with Time magazine and was asked about the possibility of post-election violence. Trump replied, “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”
This wasn’t an isolated incident. Even Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, explained in 2016 that Trump had “a consistent pattern of inciting violence.” In the years that followed, during and after his term, Trump repeatedly offered evidence to bolster the thesis.
When an attacker targeted Pelosi’s home, Trump went after the House speaker emerita and peddled ridiculous conspiracy theories. When extremists plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Trump launched an offensive against the Democratic governor and described the plot as “fake.” (Juries disagreed.)
Trump wasn't just responsible for Jan. 6 violence, he’s basing part of his campaign on championing the interests of rioters.
Biden and Warnock took care to connect the dots. The point isn’t to downplay the indefensible attempt on Trump’s life; the point is to argue that political violence is always wrong, even when Trump suggests otherwise.
It’s a relevant detail as the public conversation continues.