The Republican vice-presidential candidate blamed Democrats for political vitriol after Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump.
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Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, at a campaign event in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Senator JD Vance of Ohio pointed blame at some Democrats’ labeling of former President Donald J. Trump as a “fascist” for fomenting violence against him, ignoring his running mate’s repeated use of the same word to attack Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a speech on Monday in Georgia, Mr. Vance said that Mr. Trump’s political opponents had crossed a line with their language, which he suggested had played a role in what the authorities are investigating as an assassination attempt directed at Mr. Trump while he was golfing in Florida on Sunday.
“Look, we can disagree with one another, we can debate one another, but we cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist and, if he’s elected, it is going to be the end of American democracy,” Mr. Vance said at a Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner.
Mr. Trump has called Ms. Harris a “fascist” on at least five occasions, including at a rally on Thursday in Arizona and during a news conference on Friday near Los Angeles.
“She’s a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist,” Mr. Trump said in Tucson, Ariz.
At the dinner on Monday, Mr. Vance said that “no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months.” The vice president has been the target of violent threats while in office.
The incident on Sunday, in which Mr. Trump was not harmed, comes just over two months after he was grazed on his right ear by gunfire during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
Mr. Vance also mentioned remarks last year by Representative Daniel Goldman, Democrat of New York, calling for Mr. Trump to be “eliminated,” a comment that Mr. Goldman, a Harris ally, apologized for at the time.
“I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out,” Mr. Vance said.
Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman for Mr. Trump, stood by the former president’s use of the word when asked for comment on Wednesday.
“As President Trump correctly points out, Kamala Harris is a radical leftist, Marxist, communist and fascist because she is hell bent on destroying America by continuing her disastrous policies that have hurt people all across the country,” Mr. Cheung said. Mr. Trump has also called for Democrats to tone down their speech, using his own harsh language to do so.
A spokesman for Mr. Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Neil Vigdor covers politics for The Times, focusing on voting rights issues and election disinformation. More about Neil Vigdor
See more on: U.S. Politics, 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Daniel S. Goldman
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Source: nytimes.com
