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Democratic Party members and liberal media outlets have a history of using violent rhetoric or imagery against political opponents that dates back more than a decade.
Texas Democratic House candidate Jolanda Jones became the latest example on Wednesday after making a throat-slashing gesture while rejecting former first lady Michelle Obama’s famous mantra, “when they go low, we go high,” on CNN’s “Outfront.”
“If you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face. I’m going to go across your neck,” Jones said while making a slashing motion across her neck.
“We can go back-and-forth, fighting each other’s faces. You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back,” she continued.
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State Rep. Jolanda Jones was the latest Democrat to use violent rhetoric and imagery to attack political opponents. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Jones’ campaign said she was was not speaking literally when reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones’ comments came on the heels of reports that Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones, both Democrats, had written violent messages in the past, including calls for the death of a Republican politician.
Elected Democratic officials have also been guilty of using controversial language when attacking their opponents. In 2018, California Rep. Maxine Waters encouraged supporters at a rally to confront members of the Trump administration and “push back” on them.
“If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” Waters said.
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In 2020, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they would “pay the price” for hearing an abortion-related case.
California Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif, once told supporters to confront members of the Trump administration and “push back” on them. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In 2023, New York Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., warned that then-candidate Donald Trump was “destructive to our democracy” and needed to be “eliminated.” However, he quickly apologized for his comments, claiming that it was a “poor choice of words.”
Even former President Joe Biden has used heated language against Trump during his time in office, telling donors during a call in 2024 that it was “time to put Trump in the bulls-eye.” This was after repeatedly claiming Trump was a “threat to democracy.”
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Outside the political sphere, mainstream media commentators have made controversial comments that appeared to encourage violence.
In 2013, MSNBC anchor Martin Bashir called former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin an “idiot” and “dunce” and told viewers that someone should defecate in Palin’s mouth, invoking an old slave punishment in response to a speech where Palin compared the national debt to slavery. Bashir stepped down from his position weeks later.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace once asked how reporters restraining themselves from wringing Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ neck in 2018. (Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Image)
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace suggested that media reporters were tempted to “wring” the neck of then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2018.
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“How do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck? Why can’t she just say, ‘If a staffer said that, we’re going to get to the bottom of it and she’ll be fired?'” Wallace asked on air.
The violent rhetoric extended into Hollywood with several anti-Trump celebrities appearing to advocate for violence against the president.
During the Women’s March in 2017, singer and actress Madonna remarked that she had thought “an awful lot about blowing up the White House.” She later defended her comments, claiming they were “taken wildly out of context” and that she really wanted to effect change “with love.”
Comedian Kathy Griffin released a controversial photo of herself holding a fake bloodied Trump head. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images; Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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That same year, actor Johnny Depp joked at a music festival, “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?” before adding, “Maybe it’s time.” He later apologized for his comments, insisting that only meant to “amuse” not harm.
Most notably, comedian Kathy Griffin got attention in 2017 by posting an image of herself holding a realistic replica of Trump’s severed head covered in fake blood. She was later investigated by the Secret Service but has stood by the image as her First Amendment right.
