Jim Banks: This Rhetoric On The Left Has To Come To A Stop
Why are some so desperate to keep this event from being covered honestly? Rep. Jim Banks, R.-Ind., joins us to dive into the details.
So, let’s dig right into kind of the reaction. I was expecting the media to basically cover this second assassination attempt story like trying to cover a king size bed with a twin bed comforter, but I was not expecting it to be this atrocious. From some of the victim blaming, saying, well, yeah, it’s bad that, you know, Trump was almost assassinated. But I mean, how insane is it to you as a member of Congress knowing that if you were ever in a position where your safety was at risk, there would be people kind of openly cheering or rationalizing? An attack on you or one of your colleagues.
It’s disgusting, Tony… You’ve had members of Congress, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat Minority Leader in the House of Representatives an hour after the assassination attempts said that Donald Trump has to be stopped. So, what you got, what you got here is a case of a guy who watched way too much MSNBC. His mind was deluded with the Democrat talking points that Donald Trump was a threat to democracy, and he very nearly assassinated Donald Trump because of the ideology and the talking points of the radical left who have in many ways championed and spurred on something like this. So, it’s disgusting. And furthermore, the whitewashing of this guy’s political views. I mean, many of the mainstream media have acted like it’s unclear what his political views were. He had a Kamala Harris bumper sticker on his pickup truck. He’s given money to 14 Democrats. He’s never given a dime to a Republican. He’s obviously a radical left-wing Democrat who’s bought the line of the Democrats and the Kamala Harris campaign narrative that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. So, to your point, this this rhetoric on the left has to come to a stop.
Certainly, we’ve seen the media trying to whitewash. “His motives were unclear” at Time magazine. It’s removed all pretense and actually said “that his political ideology was unclear”, which again, you also pointed out the New York Post’s stellar reporting, by the way. I’m getting kind of tired of the New York Post kind of being one of the only remaining mainstream outlets that will actually post real photos and coverage thinking of the Hunter Biden laptop story and now this, his social media and then of course his election records. Voting in the North Carolina Democratic primary last fall. There’s a lot of evidence this guy was on the far left. And I think the reason that they don’t necessarily want to say well, yeah, this guy was on the left is because the very first thing they’ve run to. When there has been some type of a horrible event, some type of a school shooting, some type of a robbery or carjacking or what other kind of crime you might have, they immediately say, oh well, this guy is a Republican and so therefore his beliefs are XY and Z. Now the shoe was on the other foot and I’m afraid the tasting of their own medicine here is just a little bitter.
Yeah, I mean, you’re right about the New York Post. And compare that to the New York Times who interviewed this guy. I mean, they gave this guy, before the assassination attempt, but still they gave this guy a platform and he appears to be a total crackpot. I mean, if you if you look at his social media, I mean, he says he would die for Ukraine and the New York Times gave him a platform and interviewed him and acted like he was a, a normal person. So yeah, you’re right about the New York Post. I read a lot of what comes out of their newspaper because they’re credible and they have a proven track record,
But… and I still disagree with some of them. I mean, I, there are some reporters that I’m friendly with. There are some that we kind of, you know, do a little bit of boxing here and there because I don’t like the reporting, but they do try to be honest about what it is that they’re putting out. I think you might find this little factoid interesting. This presidential attempted assassin is the first individual since John Wilkes Booth, the actor who actually was out in front of people before the attempted assassination. So, John Wilkes Booth, as you know, was an actor out in front of people. People knew at least a little bit who this individual was. And now we have this guy who was out getting media interviews, rallying support for Ukraine from Hawaii and the other key point here, and this is the this is the tut tutting because I know how much of a fan you are of after some kind of a tragedy like this, the tut tutting. Jim, did you know that political violence is bad? It takes a brave man to say, have you tweeted out that political violence is bad yet? I’ve seen Kamala tweet it. Tim Walz and his wife tweeted it. Even Chuck Schumer, he said political violence is bad. Representative Banks, what do you have to say to that?
Well, of course it’s bad. Why aren’t they? Why aren’t they naming Donald Trump and saying that this, this violence should come to an end? This hasn’t happened in 40 years, in the last 60 days. Happened twice against Donald Trump, a former president who’s likely to become president of the United States again. Why aren’t that? I have seen one or two Democrats, to be fair, Ro Khanna, who’s a who is a socialist left-wing Democrat, Democrat from California and I retweeted it. We because it was, it was a, a valid tweet, he said. Donald Trump deserves greater protections as a former president and as the Republican nominee. And I agree with them. There should be a bipartisan effort when we go back to Congress tomorrow to provide Donald Trump and, and frankly all former presidents. But Donald Trump is, is not just a former president, he is likely to become the president of the United States again as the Republican nominee. And he deserves the same protections that the president of the United States has to make sure that something doesn’t happen again before Election Day, definitely after Election Day. We know he’s being targeted, and he should be protected.
I mean, this guy… this absolute fool, putting a scope on an AK47, which just for the record, as far as rifles to throw a scope on, I’m not really sure if that’s like the marksman rifle of choice. But anyhow, just aside from this absolute idiot, before he jumped into his black Nissan, he was, you know, quote, tweeting a lot of campaign statements about how Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. I seem to remember Harris and Walz and Biden and Schumer and many other congressmen on the left side of the aisle, many other media pundits saying that Donald Trump was this dictator in waiting, Hitler, Satan, super evil man reincarnated. I must be missing it because I’ve been watching the media all this morning. CNN, MSNBC. I’ve been reading pieces over from the New Republic, the New York Times, LA Times have you… maybe because you’ve seen it, and I haven’t, have you seen anyone questioning that rhetoric on the left side of the aisle that maybe calling Trump super ultra dictator is maybe not good for the current climate we’re in?
Of course not. And I’m watching as closely as you are, not a single Democrat has called for that type of rhetoric to come to an end because it’s dangerous and it motivates, it inspires people like these last two to go out and act on their on their impulses, their belief that’s they’re being polluted by the by the radical left that Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and in this case these two are acting on it. So of course it hasn’t come to an end. And another thing about this Tony that really bothers me is we still don’t know if the first assassination attempt, the shooter who did hit Donald Trump. We don’t know anything about that what happened in Pennsylvania, was he acting alone? You talking about John Wilkes Booth? I know you’re a student of history like I am. John Wilkes Booth didn’t act alone. It was part of a bigger conspiracy. There were others involved. And we still don’t have the answers that many members of Congress are demanding about whether or not the first attempt. And in Pennsylvania, if there’s more to it, is that connected to this attempt? It appears that this guy yesterday has foreign connections and he’s been in contact with individuals not just in Ukraine, but he’s communicated with people in Iran who once who has called for the assassination of Donald Trump. So, the American people deserve a lot more answers about both of these attempts within 60 days of each other. And we got we got to do more to protect Donald Trump because I imagine that if we don’t do anything that something even worse could happen between now and Election Day.
Now, now remind me you represent the third district of Indiana in Congress. Just a couple of short form questions here, maybe a couple of one-word answers just to help set some of the stage here before we let you go. What body of the United States government is in charge? Of, you know, confirming the appointments to these federal agencies.
Ohh. the United States Senate. Yeah, that’s a part of Congress.
OK Which body of the US government is in charge with maintaining oversight over the federal agencies?
The Constitution is very clear: The legislative branch. Congress provides oversight.
All right, let’s see if we can put two and two together here. Has there been anyone in the US government that has routinely obstructed Congress’s ability to keep, like, say, the Department of Justice or the FBI or other particular groups accountable when you guys have issued, you know, subpoenas or perhaps filed requests for people to appear before Congress. Anyone come to mind over the last couple of years.
Yeah, but the common thread is the Biden – Harris administration.
Wow. Now that was what some might call some very basic elementary reasoning. And it doesn’t actually take a rocket scientist to put that together. The Constitution’s very clear. Representative Jim Banks, unfortunately, we’re running a little short on time. Have to let you go. Thank you very much for your perspective on this and stay safe while you’re out there around the country.
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