From Speaker Don Scott, in response to the Facebook post by VA Del. Nick Freitas, a right-wing Republican (see screenshots of his post, below), in which Freitas claimed with zero evidence that “the other side murdered” Charlie Kirk. In fact, as Speaker Scott points out, that charge is “without any proof or facts,” while noting that “Democrats I served with have denounced the horrific shooting and expressed our condolences to the family of Mr. Kirk.” Also, in Freitas’ post, he refers to “the work of destroying the evil ideology responsible for that and so much more” and “It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another.” As Speaker Scott says, it’s “sad” that Freitas would use such language. Also, according to Freitas, apparently liberalism, progressivism, or even just being a Democrat is that “evil ideology,” and is somehow “responsible for [Kirk’s murder] and so much more.” Needless to say, that is false, irresponsible, reckless and dangerous rhetoric that should have no place in our politics or in our country.
| Speaker Don Scott Urges Republicans to Reject Divisive and Dangerous Language, Calls for Unity |
| RICHMOND, VA – Today, Virginia House Speaker Don Scott released the following statement:
“Yesterday, without any proof or facts, an elected Delegate and member of the House of Delegates said these words: ‘And the other side murdered him,’ – speaking on the horrible murder of Charlie Kirk. “Democrats I served with have denounced the horrific shooting and expressed our condolences to the family of Mr. Kirk. “It is sad a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates would use these words: ‘It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another.’ “I know Nick Freitas – I actually like Nick Freitas. He is a combat veteran. He wore the cloth of this nation. I admire his ability to connect with people, but on this one, he is wrong – he must be wrong. “We can peacefully coexist – we must peacefully coexist. We are one nation – we must be one nation under God. I am calling on all of my Republican colleagues from the Governor to the Chair of the Republican Party to condemn this language. We can vehemently disagree on policy and politics, however we cannot allow the emotions of this moment to cause us to incite further violence against one another. We must embrace civil discourse without turning to violence. This is the time for us to be thoughtful, sober-minded, hug our families close, and pray.” |
UPDATE: Similar to VA Speaker Don Scott, but diametrically opposite of Nick Freitas’ inflammatory rhetoric, here’s what Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) had to say about political violence in America:
“Look, rhetoric has always been pretty heated on Capitol Hill. Certainly with the way things work with social media…pretty extreme content online now, things are worse than they have been before. But political violence has no place here…There was an attempt on the president’s life last year. We had several governors who were attacked. One was, they tried to kidnap her. Another one, Josh Shapiro’s house was burnt down on a Jewish holiday. And so, in Congress, we’ve actually started taking more precautions. We’re spending more of our resources to make sure that we and our staffs are safe. And it’s becoming a big problem. And I see it personally, and I know my family is concerned about me. Aand I know many of the families of political figures like Charlie Kirk and politicians, elected officials are also concerned…In the end though, I do think that we have to figure out how we can tone down some of the rhetoric. We can have disagreements on things, but in the end we we have to come together when things like this happen. We can’t just let it go and move on to the next news cycle. We have to figure out a way to keep people safe at these different rallies. From what I know, there was someone who who made did shots from a from a rooftop, and that’s what happened in the case of Donald Trump last year. So maybe we need to keep rooftops clear during these types of events…But we have to take every precaution necessary to keep people safe – not just the the people speaking on stage, but the people viewing the program as
well.”
