Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) is in a tight race in Ohio with author J.D. Vance. Currently, the Real Clear Politics average has Vance up by 2.3 points. So, the last thing that Ryan can afford to do at this point for the Democrats is to say something horrible or foolish.
But that’s exactly what he did. He started off well, saying that we need to “move out of this age of stupidity” and into an “age of reconciliation and reform.” “How do we fix all of these broken systems?” Ryan said. Of course, it’s Democrats who have broken most of them. But then, Ryan went over the slide.
“Some of those answers will come from Republicans. Not the extremists that we’re dealing with every single day. We’ve gotta kill and confront that movement,” he declared.
Did he just threaten violence against Republicans? It sure sounds like it. He goes on to call the Dobbs decision “extreme,” so is he threatening the Supreme Court as well? And he wants to try to sell himself as a moderate? But then he’s also parroting Joe Biden — another alleged “moderate” — who demonized millions of Americans and claimed that “MAGA Republicans” threatened the “foundation of our republic.” Saying they have to “kill” that movement? What would you be talking about there, Tim? Who’s the extremist here? Hint: it isn’t Republicans. It’s Democrats who are demonizing Americans and seemingly calling for political violence.
If a Republican had said something like this, we’d already have 24/7 media coverage of how he was inciting violence. He might even get a subpoena, and his phone seized.
Given that Ryan is already in a tight race in a state with a lot of support from President Donald Trump, if he’s trying to play this “MAGA extremist” game, that’s not going to go over well. Americans have already shown that they didn’t like it when Joe Biden said it. This is going to turn off a lot of voters in Ohio. The Ohio race is one of the eight races that Decision Desk has looked to that may turn the race for the Senate. Ryan may just have stepped in it big time with this extreme rhetoric.