{"id":44307,"date":"2025-10-01T22:43:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44307"},"modified":"2025-10-01T22:43:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:43:39","slug":"gop-leaders-silent-after-state-lawmaker-called-for-rep-jayapal-to-be-hanged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/01\/gop-leaders-silent-after-state-lawmaker-called-for-rep-jayapal-to-be-hanged\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Leaders Silent After State Lawmaker Called for Rep. Jayapal to Be \u2018Hanged\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"CPC<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks at a press conference on May 24, 2023, in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Nathan Posner\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Republicans have claimed that calling Trump \u201cfascist\u201d or \u201cauthoritarian\u201d is an incitement to \u201cterrorism.\u201d But party leaders have said nothing about an explicit call for violence from one of their own.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

STEPHEN PRAGER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 30, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has now been almost a full week since a Republican Arizona state representative called for the execution of Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal<\/a>. But top Republicans in Congress and the White House have remained silent, even as they blame the left for escalating \u201cpolitical violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, in response to an out-of-context clip from Jayapal\u2019s (D-Wash.) YouTube channel posted to social media, state Rep. John Gillette (R-30) wrote that the Washington state Democrat\u2014who discussed how protesters could become \u201cstrike ready or street ready\u201d\u2014was calling for the overthrow of the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Government<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shutdown Belongs to GOP, Say Dems, After Trump Responds to Talks With \u2018Racist AI Video\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"FCC=Fascism,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 600 Groups Denounce Trump for \u2018Weaponizing the Government\u2019 Against Political Opponents<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUntil people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged… it will continue,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VFhOijXNDQw?rel=0Video: Arizona\u2019s Family (3TV\/CBS5)<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the full video<\/a>, published in March and titled \u201cThe Resistance Lab,\u201d was unearthed by the Arizona Mirror<\/a><\/em>, it showed that Jayapal was discussing how to plan \u201cnonviolent resistance actions.\u201d In fact, over the course of the hour-and-a-half training video, the words \u201cnonviolent\u201d and \u201cnonviolence\u201d were said a total of at least 18 times by Jayapal and other speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting strike ready,\u201d meanwhile, was a call for labor union members to prepare for work stoppages, which are legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillette has not apologized for his call to hang Jayapal. In fact, he doubled down, referring to the\u00a0Mirror<\/em>\u2018s reporting that he called for Jayapal\u2019s execution as \u201cfake news,\u201d and reiterating the false claim that Jayapal \u201copenly advocates for the violent overthrow of the US government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/JerodMacEvoy\/status\/1971647270924984499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1971647270924984499%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcongressional-gop-silent-after-state-lawmaker-calls-for-rep-jayapal-to-be-hanged<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Jayapal issued a statement<\/a> calling Gillette\u2019s comments \u201cappalling, unacceptable, and dangerous from anyone, but particularly from an elected official.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Democratic lawmakers were quick to condemn the comments. Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.) said<\/a> Gillette \u201cmust be held accountable for inciting violence against a member of Congress.\u201d Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a> (D-Calif.) said<\/a> Gillette\u2019s incitement \u201cputs [Jayapal] and all active participants in our democracy in danger.\u201d Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called<\/a> the comments \u201csick and wrong\u201d and said that \u201cRepublican leaders need to condemn this heinous call for violence, and there needs to be real accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Tuesday, not a single Republican in Congress appears to have publicly condemned Gillette\u2019s comments\u2014a deafening silence at a time when top members of the party, including President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0and Vice President JD Vance, have attempted to blame Democrats\u2019 rhetoric for recent acts of violence, like the\u00a0assassination<\/a>\u00a0of right-wing activist\u00a0Charlie Kirk<\/a>\u00a0and last week\u2019s\u00a0shooting<\/a>\u00a0at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/SenKatieBritt\/status\/1972094820291387693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1972094820291387693%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcongressional-gop-silent-after-state-lawmaker-calls-for-rep-jayapal-to-be-hanged<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, as part of a new strategy to combat what it calls \u201cleft-wing domestic terrorism,\u201d Donald Trump directed<\/a> law enforcement to \u201cdisrupt\u201d individuals and groups \u201cthat foment political violence,\u201d including \u201cbefore they result in violent political acts.\u201d Possible \u201cindicators\u201d of terrorism, the memo says, include \u201canti-capitalism,\u201d \u201canti-Christianity,\u201d and \u201chostility\u201d toward traditional views on family or \u201cmorality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Trump ally Steve Bannon told the New Republic<\/a><\/em> that he expects the government will begin to criminally investigate and prosecute groups and individuals that describe ICE as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d agreeing with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller<\/a> that such First Amendment-protected criticism \u201cincites violence and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Kirk\u2019s assassination and the ICE shooting, liberal and leftist politicians, journalists, and activists across the board rushed to\u00a0unequivocally<\/a>\u00a0condemn<\/a>\u00a0both<\/a>\u00a0acts<\/a>\u00a0of political violence, even while stating their disagreements with Kirk and with Trump\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/SenDuckworth\/status\/1970963642381393969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1970963642381393969%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcongressional-gop-silent-after-state-lawmaker-calls-for-rep-jayapal-to-be-hanged<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common Dreams<\/em> contacted the offices of both Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) to ask if they would publicly condemn Gillette\u2019s comments and urge others in their caucus to do the same. At press time, neither had responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No public condemnations appear to have come from Trump, Vance, or any other members of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local news network Arizona\u2019s Family (3TV\/CBS5)<\/em> said<\/a> it reached out to the office of Arizona\u2019s House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-21) to ask if Gillette would face any discipline over his comments. The office did not respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) harshly criticized<\/a> their silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPatriots don\u2019t cower and meekly hide from condemning their political allies when they do stuff like this,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody should be condemning this call for violence. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEPHEN PRAGER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks at a press conference on May 24, 2023, in Washington, DC. \u00a0(Photo by Nathan Posner\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Top Republicans have claimed that calling Trump \u201cfascist\u201d or \u201cauthoritarian\u201d is an incitement to \u201cterrorism.\u201d But party leaders have said nothing about an explicit call for… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44308,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44307\/revisions\/44308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}