(FixThisNation.com) – Democratic Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) asked politicians to stop portraying their opponents as “fascists,” in a lengthy X thread.
Golden, a vulnerable Democrat in Maine’s swing 2nd district, took to X to condemn the path he believes the country is on and called on leaders to guide Americans to a different path.
Golden suggested leaders should drop “hyperbolic threats” regarding the stakes of the 2024 election, noting it shouldn’t be “portrayed as a struggle between” democracy and authoritarianism, nor should it be portrayed as a fight against “socialists” or “fascists” seeking to destroy America. Instead, the swing district Democrat described these characterizations as “dangerous lies.”
Golden’s 10-part X thread came after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
At around 6 p.m., minutes after Trump took to the stage, shots rang out and the former President could be seen clutching his bleeding right ear before being escorted from the stage by Secret Service agents.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle shared they were keeping Trump and rally attendees in prayer while expressing their condolences to one rally attendee who had been shot and killed.
Golden weighed in by stating the assassination attempt should spark a conversation about the future of America and the future Americans want for their kids.
“In pursuit of short-term political gain, [politicians] are eager to exaggerate [Americans’] differences,” Golden posted, adding that politicians had resorted to casting their opponents as “diabolical caricatures” inclined to destroy the country.
He noted that the “result” of such characterizations “is an overwhelming sense of fear [and] anxiety” about the country’s future, with voters distrusting the “normal and tested tools of democracy” because these tools “no longer seem adequate” at protecting “the common good.”
In America’s current political climate, “a rise of politically motivated violence in America is sadly unsurprising,” Golden concluded in his sixth post on the thread.
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