Letter: Democrats also have record of violent speech
A lot is being said about Republicans inciting violence. As for hate mongering, Democrats could hold seminars on how to do it. Late in 2020, when Donald Trump was president, some anonymous person cobbled together videos of various Democratic politicians, television personalities and Hollywood luminaries calling for anti-Trump violence.
Some of the incendiary words were spoken by unidentified people and no specific context is given. However, some of the rabble rousers are identifiable and their words are undeniable:
President Biden on Nov. 1, 2022: "There's an alarming rise in the number of people in this country condoning political violence."
Biden at the University of Miami: "If we were in high school, I'd take him [Trump] behind the gym and beat the hell out of him." Nancy Pelosi: "I don't see why there are no uprisings all across the country."
A television commentator, in the wake of one of the many George Floyd riots: "Show me where it says that protests should be polite and peaceful." [In the 1st Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law ... prohibiting ... the right of the people to peaceably assemble ..."
An Academy Award winner, punching the air with his Oscar and screaming, "Punch Trump's people in the face!" Applause followed. A TMZ commentator: "Where is John Wilkes Booth when we need him?" An MSNBC commentator: "You're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump."
All of these people are respected politicians, members of the news media and of the entertainment industry. None of them are characterized as fringe lunatics like the Proud Boys, QAnon and Oath Keepers, the virtual Keystone Kops who led the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Don Frost
Lake Summerset