Blood vials sent to RNC HQ
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Vials of blood addressed to former president Donald Trump were delivered to the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington D.C.
The odd delivery forced a brief evacuation on Wednesday morning. Now the building is clear and police are investigating what the RNC is calling a “biological attack.”
In a statement the RNC wrote, in part, “This revolting attack comes on the heels of pro-Hamas protestors violently demonstrating on college campuses and deranged Biden supporters physically attacking our campaign volunteers (…) No matter what violent tactics Biden’s extreme left supporters try next, we stand firm in our mission.”
The White House says the situation is concerning.
“Condemn any political violence, threats or intimidation. That has no place in any community and certainly in our political discourse,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
While the situation is definitely weird, George Washington University Media and Public Affairs Professor Peter Loge says incidents like these are becoming more common.
“This could be a mentally ill person. This could be a passionate partisan. Who knows!” Loge said. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen a rise in political violence, and we’ve seen a rise in violent political rhetoric. And vitriol springs from the microphones to the streets pretty easily.”
He says the RNC response is unhelpful. Instead, he argues political leaders should be trying to turn down the temperature.
“They need to say we can be partisan, we can be passionate, that doesn’t mean we need to be violent. In the end we share a common goal of a better country. Let’s work towards that with arguments. Let’s not work towards that with pitchforks and vials of blood,” Loge said.
He warns the trend won’t change until the rhetoric from leaders does.
“Until politicians and pundits back off of the violent rhetoric we’re not going to see a decline in political violence,” Loge said.
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