Coons says Trump, Congress have a duty to "lower the temperature" of political rhetoric
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware says he thinks the recent spate of high-profile acts of political violence, including the deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, has been spurred by "the caustic tone in our national politics," and that leaders have a duty to tamp down their rhetoric and denounce violence.
"There's a responsibility for all of us to lower the tone of hatred and division in our country," Coons said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "I think those of us in national office, our president, those who would hope to be president, those of us in Congress who have louder microphones and who are heard from and seen more regularly, need to take responsibility for ways in which we lower the temperature."
Federal prosecutors charged Robert Bowers, 46, with 29 counts related to Saturday's shooting in which 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Earlier in the week, Cesar Sayoc of Florida was arrested for allegedly mailing explosive devices addressed to prominent Democrats and critics of President Trump around the country.
While saying that it is hard to draw a "clear line" between Mr. Trump's rhetoric and either case, Coons said it was important for the president to continue speaking out against such acts.
"What I do think is helpful is, when those who are in national leadership recognize that some of the arguments they've been making have inspired or encouraged deranged individuals to take actions that they really don't support, to make it perfectly clear, to denounce hatred and anti-Semitism as President Trump recently has, to distance themselves from the arguments that might have inspired ... these sorts of actions," Coons said.
"It is important for us to recognize that there's more work that we can and should do to lower the temperature and tone in our national politics," he added. "We have to take a moment and step back and recognize that the heated rhetoric of American politics today is encouraging some folks who are deranged to take action based on that rhetoric."
Coons co-chairs a weekly bipartisan prayer breakfast in the Senate with Republican Sen. James Lankford, who said on "Face the Nation" he saw no connection between the president's rhetoric and the synagogue shooting.
"We get together every week with a bipartisan group of several dozen senators and one of the things we focus on is trying to meet each other in a spirit of humility and prayer and to see each other as real people, not as evil enemies, more than just political opponents," Coons said. "And one of the things that really concerns me that weighs on my heart, John, is the ways in which our president and a number of other national political leaders of both parties have used their megaphones in order to inspire and instill and energize folks based on division rather than based on unity."
