Congressman Peter King: The Level Of Political Rhetoric & Anger In This Country Is Out Of Control
“The anger is there … the anger is rising, the intensity is there and I think it’s important to everyone to try and bring it down at least several notches, its out of control….generally you will see what we do have is people who are psychotic will respond when there is turbulence and right now the constant everyday friction , fighting , the yelling that is going on, the demonstrations, the riots, the shouting people down, the attacks on college campuses, all of that has to be brought down, that level of screaming has to be lowered.”
—Congressman Peter King on the need to lower the political anger and rhetoric in wake of the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise
Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Counter-terrorism Congressman Peter King (R-NY) spoke with Brian Kilmeade about Congressman Steve Scalise and four others being shot during an early-morning practice for Thursday’s annual Congressional baseball game, after a lone gunman opened fire. Rep King said today’s shooting shows the need to change protocol and make sure to have larger security details whenever there are large numbers of government officials gathered in one place. King went on to say the political rhetoric and anger in the country is out of control and needs to be brought down because psychotic people when there is turbulence will act out with the level of political friction we are living through right now.
Listen here:
(Kilmeade) Do you think about security being that you are in New York and the rhetoric has never been higher arguably between the parties and the angst especially against this President and his party?
(KING) Without going into details and because there have been different threats over the years, I do have security at different times, more than the average congressman. It’s something you come to live with, it can actually be nerve-racking for your family. I hear people say he is traveling with cops and detectives, they don’t realize the stress that puts on your family and the reason they are there is because of threats. We have to, certainly when there is large numbers of government officials gathered in any location, there has to be more security. I mean, this is Monday morning quarterbacking on my part but you have 25 members of Congress and they are all duly elected by the American people yet they were all basically sitting ducks. If it had been better coordinated, they all could have been killed. Even on Capitol Hill at any given time you could see 50, 70, 100 members of congress walking around, talking, meeting, talking to constituents. So we are open targets.
(Kilmeade) Congressman King you have to admit you have never seen anything like this, the rhetoric, the cursing, the anger among celebrities and others.
(KING) The anger is there, listen, we have the greatest country in the world, people are angry but they should keep it in perspective, nobody lives better than we do, nobody has better freedoms or liberties than we do and yet the anger is rising, the intensity is there and I think it’s important to everyone to try and bring it down at least several notches, its out of control. Again, I don’t know what the motive of the shooter was, I don’t know who he was, I don’t know what was behind it but generally you will see what we do have is people who are psychotic will respond when there is turbulence and right now the constant everyday friction , fighting , the yelling that is going on, the demonstrations, the riots, the shouting people down, the attacks on college campuses, all of that has to be brought down, that level of screaming has to be lowered.
