Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) claimed on Monday that no one has attempted to kill Vice President Kamala Harris, in an apparent attempt to portray right-wing rhetoric as harmless. The only problem? His claim isn’t true.
While speaking in Georgia, the Republican vice presidential candidate argued that left-wing discourse posed a far greater danger given the apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sunday.
“The big difference between conservatives and liberals is that we have—no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months,” Vance said at the Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition dinner in Atlanta. “I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric, and needs to cut this crap out.”
But Harris faced numerous threats in recent months, contrary to Vance’s claims.
Just last month, for example, it was revealed that a man in Virginia was arrested after threatening to kill Harris and numerous other political figures. The man, who made the threats on the alternative social media platform GETTR, mentioned Harris a total of 19 times, according to federal court documents.
Also in August, a man from Tennessee was charged after using X to threaten Harris with assassination. Federal prosecutors also said the man threatened to crash the Biden’s plane and made threatening remarks regarding former President Barack Obama as well.
And in June, a California man was sentenced to two years in prison for threatening to kill both Harris and President Joe Biden. The man, who was arrested with an AR-15 style rifle and body armor while traveling across country to the White House, admitted that he intended to “free the United States of evil” by killing those in power who he believed were involved in “the sex abuse of children,” according to federal court documents.
Even Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who opened fire on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July, had been searching for Biden’s location prior to the attack, suggesting that he was interested in taking out either candidate.
The incorrect sentiment is so widespread that even billionaire Elon Musk joked on X that “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala” just shortly after the incident involving Trump. Musk later deleted his post after immense backlash.
Opponents of Vance on social media were quick to call out the senator for his false remarks.
Numerous references were also made to Vance’s home state of Ohio, where over 30 bomb threats have targeted locations such as schools in the city of Springfield in recent days. The threats came pouring in after Vance amplified debunked claims that Haitian immigrants were kidnapping and eating pets throughout the city.
“Meanwhile, in Springfield Ohio, elementary schools are getting bomb threats everyday,” one user wrote.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said at a press conference that the bomb threats appeared to have stemmed from a foreign nation, though he did not name the country.
“I’m still waiting on a correction and apology from the left-wing journalists,” Vance wrote about the news. “They lied about these bomb threats to silence us.”
Supporters of Vance applauded his remarks and similarly repeated the false claim that Harris had not faced any threats of violence.
“Great statement,” one user said.
“He’s right,” another user replied.
This post has been updated.
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