Vice President J.D. Vance discusses the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, the law enforcement response and the rise in political violence on FNC’s “The Will Cain Show.” “I know we’ve got a courageous leader in President Trump,” Vance said. “It’s amazing. But after all this, I’ve never seen the violence of the threat of violence even have a little bit of an effect on how he thinks about his job. It’s the best thing maybe I could say about his character, which is which is saying quite a bit.” <\/p>\n
WILL CAIN: I just think it would take an incredible amount of self-imposed ignorance to not look around and see the way that our political environment is talking. And if I’ll editorialize, it is largely coming, not exclusively, but largely coming from one direction. Certainly the bullets seem to be flying from one direction. You’re now sort of in the direction of the fire. You’re in the direction of the words and unfortunately as well the bullets. What would you say about everything, Mr. President, from comedians who seem to make some of this rhetoric mainstream to fringe elements now that have now gone mainstream within the left. What would you say about the way we’re hearing rhetoric and conversation in politics? VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE: Well, I think you said it well, Will. I can’t improve upon it, which is that political violence right now is coming, not exclusively, but largely from one side of the aisle. The president has now faced three serious attempts on his life in just the past year and a half. Of course, Butler, Pennsylvania. There was a situation at Mar-a-Lago that the media didn’t really cover. And then of course there was the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. So I think really it’s incumbent upon everybody, but particularly those who are driving some of the narratives that Donald Trump, you know, that Donald Trump has somehow invited this violence upon himself. That killing your political opponents is somehow justified. If you’re engaged in that kind of rhetoric, you need to check yourself. You need to look yourself in the mirror and say that political disagreement is fine, but inviting violence upon your political opponents makes you part of the problem. Of course, you know, our mutual friend, Charlie Kirk, was gunned down not even a year ago. And immediately after that happened, you saw some mainstream voices on the left pivot, not to the fact that Charlie was a good husband and father, not to the fact that he was going and taking his message to campuses and talking to people, both those who agreed with him, but also those who disagree with him. You saw people come out and say that somehow it was justified, or that somehow Charlie Kirk believed this bad thing that you’re not supposed to believe, which is implicitly justifying the person who murdered him. Why can’t we all just say, disagree, disagree aggressively. That’s part of the beauty of the American system if you’ve got to, but we don’t accept political violence in our system. And if you’re part of the left wing in this country, you got to look yourself in the mirror and say, why is it that so many of the people who are firing guns that their political opponents agree with my perspective and listen to the same sources of information that I listened to? Maybe that suggests the left has got to tone down the rhetoric a little bit. I certainly hope they do, because look, I love the president. Obviously, I love my family. We don’t want this violence in our country. But the last thing I’ll say, Will is, look, this is fundamentally, you know, the president has such a good attitude about this where he says the reason they come after him is because he’s doing big things. And that’s exactly right. They always go after, there’s always some evil character who’s going after people who are doing big things in our country. That doesn’t mean you can’t do big things. That just means you need courageous leaders at the top. And I know we’ve got a courageous leader in President Trump. It’s amazing. But after all this, I’ve never seen the violence of the threat of violence even have a little bit of an effect on how he thinks about his job. It’s the best thing maybe I could say about his character, which is which is saying quite a bit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n