Republican Strategist Sounds Alarm on Political Violence: ‘I’m Scared of What’s Going to Happen Next’
Culpability goes back to treatment of the Obama's, Heye argues
Republicans have a responsibility to tone down the rhetoric for political violence, where once they were able to meet tragedy with solemnity, today the brutal attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband is just one more punchline, according to one longtime GOP strategist.
Doug Heye, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee (RNC), noted the distinct change over the last decade or so since a gunman shot — and nearly killed — then-Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
“You know, it was a Saturday morning, and we were all, like everybody else, shocked that this would happen,” Heye recalled of the morning Giffords was shot back in her Arizona district in January 2011. “And the call, as I remember, it was one of a really somber tones. And making sure the statements that we put out, whether it was from the Republican National Committee or from John Boehner’s office — he being now the new Speaker of the House at that point — that we set the right tone and said the right things.
“And again, this is also the really important part, that we make it clear to — and this is House leadership more than it is the RNC, but that we make it clear to our members, members of the House Republican Conference or what we called ‘The 168,’ the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, to not say anything inflammatory, to frankly not say anything stupid, and we were able to do that, I think, successfully in 2011,” Heye added, in a televised interview. “As we’ve seen 12 years later, just this past weekend, it’s a punchline for some Republicans or some of these so-called conservative pundits who also dabble in selling vitamin supplements on TV and the MyPillow-ization of the Republican Party and so forth.
“That’s unfortunate and it’s why more Republicans will speak up, or, if they said the wrong thing like Glenn Youngkin did, then apologize for it so you can then move on,” Heye said, referring to the Republican governor of Virginia who mocked the attack on Pelosi's husband while campaigning for a Republican congressional candidate.
Republicans have culpability in the area of political rhetoric going back at least as far as the treatment of President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama, Heye said.
“Yeah, you know, as I said in the piece, I think we have original sin here, and part of that is our language towards Barack Obama, Michelle Obama for that matter as well, and the questioning of citizenship and religion and so forth,” he said, referring to an opinion piece he recently published in The Washington Post. “And then also, obviously, with Donald Trump and what ultimately culminated in January 6. I think Republicans should be more mindful of that. I think she’s right that you can’t necessarily draw a direct line between what one politician says and the act of a crazy person.
“You know, when [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer said that [Supreme Court Justice] Brett Kavanaugh was going to reap the whirlwind and pay the price for his vote on the Dobbs decision, I don’t think he was sending the person there to Brett Kavanaugh’s house with a gun to get arrested. But it’s not a straight line. It may be a dotted line, it may be a broken line. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be introspective in what my work had been, because I’m scared of what is going to happen next, just as I’m scared of what’s happened before.
“You know, with Steve Scalise, that’s not something that just happened at a baseball game. It’s very personal to me because he is a friend and the two members of his security detail worked for Eric Cantor when I worked in his office. I know them well,” referring to the congressman from Louisiana who was shot and gravely wounded in 2017, as well as Cantor, a former House majority leader. “They are wonderful people, dedicated to doing their jobs, and they were lucky they were there at the right time. Next time, Republican or Democrat, they may not be, right?
“The kidnapping plot on Gretchen Whitmer could’ve been a successful and these are things that should scare every American and I think cause everybody in American public life to try and do better for themselves and ultimately for the country,” Heye added, referring to the Democratic governor of Michigan.
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