Prominent Democrats echoed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) call for the public to roundly condemn President Trump a day after he joined his supporters’ “lock her up” chants during a rally in Michigan.
On Sunday morning, Whitmer told MSNBC that Trump’s incendiary rhetoric is “dangerous” not only for her and her family, but also “for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans.”
Whitmer, who was targeted in an alleged right-wing conspiracy to kidnap and possibly kill her that the FBI thwarted earlier this month, called on the public to come together to join her in condemning Trump’s remarks.
“People of good will on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down,” Whitmer said. “This is the United States of America. We do not tolerate actions like he is giving comfort to and that’s why we all have to be in this together.”
Democrats were quick to roundly condemn Trump in light of his remarks at his Michigan rally during Sunday morning interviews:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
When asked about Whitmer’s remarks that Trump’s attacks against her endanger her safety as well as those of her family and other government officials, Pelosi agreed with the Michigan governor as she criticized the President for injecting “fear tactics.”
“The President has to realize that the words of the president of the United States weigh a ton,” Pelosi told ABC News. “And, in our political dialogue, to inject fear tactics into it, especially a woman governor and her family, is so irresponsible. And, in all fairness to people who listen to him, people think the president is important and what he says should be adhered to.”
Pelosi added that this is a “horrible situation” where “the biggest antidote to his poison is the vote.”
JUST IN: Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells @GStephanopoulos Trump’s rhetoric at Michigan rally was “irresponsible.”
“The president has to realize that words of the president of the United States weigh a ton … the biggest antidote to his poison is the vote.” https://t.co/qdyRUdx4xE pic.twitter.com/KDp2DiwMVp
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 18, 2020
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
After slamming Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump on her “obviously unfounded, inappropriate” remark that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is experiencing a cognitive decline while appearing on CNN earlier Sunday morning, Coons said he also found her defense of the President encouraging “lock her up” chants against Whitmer to be “particularly troubling,” given the alleged right-wing conspiracy that the FBI foiled earlier this month.
The President’s daughter-in-law denied to CNN on Sunday morning that the President was doing anything to “provoke” people to threaten Whitmer and quipped that “he was having fun at a Trump rally.”
“(Lara Trump’s) comment was: he was just having fun. If that means that, for a President, fun is fueling division and encouraging folks to say and do things that are threatening and completely inappropriate, well, that’s a reminder of what kind of President we currently have, in sharp contrast to Joe Biden, someone who can and will bring our country together,” Coons, who serves as a Biden surrogate, told CNN.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) condemns Trump for joining in on "lock her up" chants at Michigan rally pic.twitter.com/48MyLv4GQF
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) October 18, 2020
Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez
Although Perez wasn’t directly asked about Trump’s amplification of his supporters’ “lock her up” chants during his rally in Michigan the night before, the DNC chair brought it up during an interview on CBS as he stated that he “disagrees categorically” with a Michigan court ruling that mail-in ballots must be returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
“This is a crisis. People understand this President has no plan. His closing argument in Michigan is ‘lock her up,'” Perez said, before going on add that Trump is “fanning the flames of division,” and slamming him for lacking a plan on COVID-19 and the economy.
