Washington Free Beacon eporter Alex Griswold discussed his story about the recent surge of threats on Republican congressmen Friday on Fox News, saying the political Left should do a better job of calling out illiberal behavior by their supporters.
Host Neil Cavuto introduced the topic by playing a recent recording of a Nebraska Democratic official who said he was "glad" House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.) got shot last week and wished he was dead.
Griswold reported this week that 30 Republicans in Congress have been either attacked or received death threats since May. In addition to the shooting of Scalise at a Republican baseball practice, Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), Steve Stivers (R., Ohio) and Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) have been among those getting death threats.
"Most liberals are better than this," Griswold said. "We talk about why isn't the media calling this sort of behavior out. Liberals, it's on you, too. You should be calling this out as well. This is not part of your tradition. It's not liberal at all. It's not even American."
Griswold said he could not believe how many GOP representatives had been under duress when he first looked into the story.
"It was just mind-boggling," he said.
Cavuto wondered how the media would treat the story if the politics of the shooter and victim were reversed, as last week it was a Bernie Sanders supporter attacking Republicans. Griswold pointed to how the press treated the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011, leaping to blame of Republicans like Sarah Palin for heated rhetoric, when it was later revealed the shooter had been obsessed with Giffords for years.
He and Cavuto agreed the anger in politics was out of control, with some of it even coming from the celebrity community. The most recent performer to receive attention for charged language was Johnny Depp on Thursday after he joked about assassinating President Donald Trump.
"It is nuts," Griswold said. "I'd like to think it's probably the worst that we've seen since at least the Civil War, politicization of this factor. It's been fomenting for years as we all know, but this is the first time we've seen it get really as violent as it has."