WASHINGTON—Imploring their colleagues across the aisle to be mindful of how the highly charged language might elevate national tensions, congressional Republicans urged Democrats Tuesday to tone down the rhetoric they used to quote President Donald Trump verbatim. “Temperatures are running high, and the last thing we need are hotheaded Democrats spewing hateful, inflammatory statements sourced directly from the president’s speeches,” said Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), adding that there was already enough political violence in the country without stoking it further by taking words right out of the president’s mouth and repeating them in public. “We’re sitting in the hallowed halls of the Capitol, a place with a requisite decorum, and who knows how many shooters might be inspired to commit heinous acts after hearing Rep. [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez read the president’s latest Truth Social post word for word? It’s shocking—and honestly quite shameful—that my colleagues in the Democratic Party would stoop to such lows.” Johnson went on to slam Democrats for their “reckless and divisive” recitations of his own remarks on same-sex marriage.
