Thursday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily,” when asked about heated political rhetoric playing a role in the shooting of Republicans practicing for a congressional charity baseball game that resulted in a critical injury for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said it would help to ease tensions if President Donald Trump would stop “referring to others in the other party as losers.”
Flake said, “There will be a time, I believe, where most Americans will reject this kind of politics and personal destruction—just the awful rhetoric that both parties employ. I have to think there will be a rejection of it at some point. I hope that’s now.”
He continued, “We’ve got to lead by example. Frankly, we’ve got to do the same, tone down the rhetoric and the language that we use, and I do hope the president will do the same. We saw a campaign where on all sides it was frankly pretty ugly and we’ve got to change it. I hope the president will lead and I hope that we will in Congress as well. There’s a lot that we can do. We have to stop ascribing the worst motives to our opponents and debate ideas. It sounds simple, we always say that, but we’ve got to do it and discipline ourselves. If we will, I believe that the public will be with us and that they’ll demand that of others, so I hope that’s what we’ll do.”
When asked what President Trump could specifically do, Flake said, “Well, there’s things that he could stop doing, you know, referring to others in the other party as losers, and using language that isn’t becoming. It’s done on our side as well, and certainly, the president’s opponents use that kind of language as well going after him, and I think they ought to stop that. But I think as President of the United States you share, or you have a unique ability to reach the public and to say ‘hey, this point forward, we’re going to change and I’m going to change.’ I think that would be welcomed and I think it would rub off all down the line. I hope that it happens.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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