Dems appalled at 'unhinged' AZ Republican following 'violent rhetoric'

(Arizona Mirror)

Democratic leaders in Congress are calling for Republican leaders to reject violent rhetoric by an Arizona Republican lawmaker who called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman because she urged people upset with President Donald Trump to peacefully protest in the streets.

Kingman Republican Rep. John Gillette wrote on the social media site X on Sept. 25 that U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, was calling for the government to be overthrown and should be hanged.

“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette said in response to a video of Jayapal.

The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday called on the Republicans who control the Arizona House of Representatives to hold Gillette accountable for his “dangerous” words.

“These dangerous comments calling for her execution are unconscionable,” Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies said in a statement. “Arizona legislators must hold this unhinged elected official accountable for contributing to an unsafe environment and risking bodily harm to a sitting Member of Congress. There is no place for the incitement of political violence in this country. Republican leaders must reject it immediately.”

Jayapal herself called Gillette’s post “appalling, unacceptable and dangerous” in a statement released on social media.

“It is a call to violence designed to suppress nonviolent democratic organizing against authoritarianism and further polarize the American public for political gain,” Jayapal said. “Sadly, it makes the world a more dangerous place for each of us.”

The Washington state lawmaker also went on to say that “all political leaders, of all parties” should denounce it and that she plans to continue doing the trainings on non-violent organizing that initially drew the attention of Gillette and others.

And Katherine Clark, Democratic Whip for the U.S. House of Representatives, called the comments “dangerous and vile.”

“I condemn this violent rhetoric that has no place in our country,” Clark said on X. “I hope our Republican leaders will do the same.”

Arizona Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro and Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The 30-second video clip of Jayapal that Gillette was responding to was from a longer video, which was posted online in March, that is part of Jayapal’s “Resistance Lab” series in which she and others discuss protest movements and non-violent actions. The video featured a speaker who studied political violence and spoke about non-violence. Jayapal at one point said anti-Trump Americans should be ready to mount peaceful protests quickly, in the same way labor unions can mount effective strikes and demonstrations to achieve change.

The clip was posted by an anonymous right-wing profile and accused Jayapal of making a call to violence because she said protesters should be “strike ready” and “street ready.” The Arizona Mirror watched the video in its entirety and found no calls to violence or advocating for overthrowing the government; it was focused on “non-violent resistance” to Trump and advising people on how to do that.

Last week, Gillette posted a press release on his Facebook page in which he denied calling for Jaypal’s execution and said the initial reporting on his earlier X post was “demonstrably false.”

He accused Jayapal of committing treason and said that any American who says what she did or “attempts to overthrow the United States Government” by engaging in insurrection should face the death penalty under the law.

“That is not my invention; it is established law,” Gillette wrote.

Except that it’s not. Federal law sets the penalty for insurrection at a maximum of 10 years in prison, and treason is defined as levying war against the United States or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Federal law says that the penalty for treason can range from five years in prison to death.

Protesting a president does not meet the legal standard for either insurrection or treason. And the First Amendment protects free speech and peaceful protests.

Gillette went on to defend his call for executing Jayapal and other anti-Trump protesters because he called for them to have due process, which he noted is “the foundation of the American justice system.”

“I called for the law to be enforced against anyone regardless of party who openly advocates for the violent overthrow of the American government,” he wrote.

Gillette has expressed support for the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, violently assaulting police officers and breaking down doors and windows in order to access the building so they could stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election. On several occasions, he has called the 1,600 or so people who were prosecuted — and since pardoned by Trump — for their actions that day “political prisoners.”

Gillette’s recent comments come after some of his democratic colleagues have voiced concerns over his rhetoric after he castigated them for calling for civility and unity in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a message to all his fellow lawmakers that included a racial slur, he placed blame for political violence solely on Democrats and the political left, accusing them of stoking hate and violence against Republicans.

“The tone was set by your party; unity is no longer an option,” he wrote on Sept. 14 to the 59 other members of the state House. “We handed you an olive ranch (sic), and you broke it. Your party invited the radicals to the table and they took over. Now you own them. As the J**s did at Peral (sic) Harbor, Radical Muslims on 911, your party has woken the sleeping giant.”

Earlier this month, Gillette also came under fire for Islamophobic comments that led to an ethics complaint that was ultimately dismissed. The Republican chair of the House Ethics Committee said that Gillette had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wanted on social media without consequence.