Vice President JD Vance has urged Democrats to “stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi” if they want to end political violence in the United States.
Newsweek contacted Vance’s office for comment via email outside of regular office hours.
Why It Matters
The U.S. has been rocked by a series of attacks targeting politically influential figures or targets over the past 18 months leading one expert to warn Newsweek about the emergence of an “assassination culture” in the country.
On Wednesday one detainee was killed and two wounded after a man opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas before turning the gun on himself. This followed the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk on 10 September and the fatal shooting of Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband in June. Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts in July and September 2024.
What To Know
Speaking at a rally in Concord, North Carolina, Vance said the shooting earlier on Wednesday at an ICE facility in Texas had been “politically motivated.”
Referring to political violence he commented: “We’ve got to stop it, we got to condemn it and that starts unfortunately at the very top of the Democratic Party.
“If you want to stop political violence stop attacking our law enforcement as the Gestapo, if you want to stop political violence stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi.”
A short clip of Vance’s remarks was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the “Acyn” account, where it received over 700,000 views.
According to authorities the shooter in Wednesday’s Dallas attack, identified as Joshua Jahn, had written “Anti-ICE” on a shell casing.
However Vance’s comments sparked some criticism on social media, with House Democrat Eric Swalwell asking: “Why did @JDVance call Trump ‘America’s Hitler.'”
According to Reuters, in 2016 Vance sent a message to a friend in which he said: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a****** like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”
Trump also has a track record of describing political opponents as “fascists.”
Speaking in November 2023 he said: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
During a Minnesota campaign event in August 2020 Trump said: “Democrats want to…replace American freedom with left-wing fascism. Fascists, they are fascists. Some of them, not all of them.”
Earlier this month Trump said he had designated Antifa, a loose collection of left-wing activists that claim to oppose fascism, sometimes using physical force, as a terrorist organization.
What People Are Saying
On X Canadian political commentator Marlene Robertson said: “Vance you called Trump America’s Hitler before anyone else.”
Columbia Journalism School teacher Marlow Stern commented: “The only major politicians who’ve called trump hitler: j.d. vance and rfk jr.”
In a post on his Truth Social website on Wednesday Trumpsaid: “The Brave Men and Women of ICE are just trying to do their jobs, and remove the ‘WORST of the WORST’ Criminals out of our Country, but they are facing an unprecedented increase in threats, violence, and attacks by Deranged Radical Leftists. This violence is the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis.’ The continuing violence from Radical Left Terrorists, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, must be stopped.”
What Happens Next
The Trump administration is likely to continue making a connection between the rhetoric used by some Democrats and political violence, sparking charges of hypocrisy from critics.
