Civility Lessons From Republicans On The Sunday Shows

Learn a thing or two from the nicest people.

On Saturday, former President Donald Trump was shot at. Though Trump only suffered a scratch, one of his supporters was killed and two others were critically injured. President Joe Biden gave a statement that night and an Oval Office address the next day condemning this violent act and condemning all political violence.

But how did the Sunday shows address this? With some surprising calls for civility from Republicans, but not because they suddenly found their decency.

When In Doubt, Blame Critical Race Theory

On CNN’s “State Of The Union,” Jake Tapper interviewed Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

But as details emerged about the attempted assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, narratives from people too eager to find how they could blame Democrats and liberals for this started to dissipate. Crooks was:

• A registered Republican who voted for Republicans in the first election he was eligible for (2022 midterms)

• Came from a conservative family

• Used an AR-15, the very weapon Dems have been trying to ban unsuccessfully thanks to Republicans

• It was a legally purchased assault weapon from his father

If Crooks had shot at BLM protestors rather than Trump, people like Johnson would be lionizing him like they did Kyle Rittenhouse or Daniel Perry. So, how did Johnson work around these inconvenient facts?

JOHNSON: The greatest threat to our nation right now is, we're horribly divided.
But, again, in general, we share the same goals. So why are we so divided? Well, there are political figures. There are political groups. I would argue that's what identity politics is about. That's what Critical Race Theory is about.

A white Republican man shot a white Republican man because of critical race theory?! Using a racist dog whistle to blame for this is very on brand for a multiple year winner of Senate dumbest Republican.

Conservatives Are Wondering Where All This Unhinged Rhetoric Come From

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham was on NBC’s “Meet The Press” to show his sadness and relief that Trump was not seriously hurt by delivering this heartfelt message.

GRAHAM: I'm grateful you weren't hurt any worse, and I love you. You know, we were supposed to play golf this morning at 8:30. I have talked to him three times this week. There's a lot going on in the world. He was excited about playing golf. He thought he had something that could help my swing.

(Note: We’re not sure if Graham made it to the golf course, but Trump certainly did.)

Graham, teary eyed, called for “both sides” to turn it down and solely blame the shooter for his actions. But when Kristen Welker tried to ask him about unhinged statements made by Republicans like potential Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance or Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia …

… Graham suddenly didn’t want to address it.

GRAHAM: Yeah. Well, there is a lot of frustration, on our side, about the way President Trump has been treated. […] And I'll try to do better here. I don't – I don’t want to go down that road, right now.

On the Sunday edition of NBC’s “Today,” Speaker Mike Johnson also “All Lives Matter-ed” his blame for the state of political rhetoric.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: We’ve got to turn the temperature down. The rhetoric down. We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country. We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out. And make sure that happens so we can go forward and maintain our free society we all are blessed to have.

But these calls for unity didn’t stop Johnson from trying to blame the people they normally would, if the shooter hadn’t been so inconveniently their target voter, for this.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: It's almost inexplicable to us sometimes ... there is no figure in American history at least in the modern era — maybe since Lincoln — who's been so vilified and really persecuted by media and Hollywood elites, political figures, even the legal system.

Seriously?! President Biden has been called everything from a doddering old man to a criminal mastermind by conservatives. Former President Obama had his very citizenship questioned and his family subjected to smears. Former President Clinton and Hillary Clinton were literally called murderers since the ‘90s.

Hell, there’s a chance Crooks may have gotten such an unhinged plan from an unhinged source.

But Johnson was not being genuine about this exaggerated claim, as his following statement gives away what he truly wants.

SPEAKER JOHNSON: When the message goes out constantly that the election of Donald Trump would be a threat to democracy itself and the republic would end, it heats up the environment. We cannot do that and it’s simply not true.

Conservatives just want everyone to stop calling Trump what he is or trying to hold him accountable for his actions. Conservatives have never cared about the temperature, climate or political, before.

They have mocked assassination attempts of others.

They have called opponents traitors who should be executed.

Don’t care about stochastic terrorism when people like Chaya “Libs Of TikTok” Raichik and Matt Walsh’s rhetoric have led to direct threats of violence.

Even now, same stochastic terrorists are trying to find ways to spin this to their toxic narratives of “DEI.”

And the Trump campaign is fundraising about it.

Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, is pausing ads and events while some spineless Democrats are speaking anonymously about “resigning themselves to a second Trump term.”

This is a huge mistake. As Eisner award winning comic book writer Mark Russell so eloquently put it:

We should not be taking civility lectures from these assclowns. Trump is still a threat to democracy and an authoritarian bigot. Nothing about that or the danger he poses has changed.

There are no extra points for nobility in end stage democracy. Especially when facing ignoble bastards.

Have a week.

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