Why is every politician pretending this dude's entire platform wasn't just vitriolic hate?

Love Bernie, but this:

But bottom line, if we honestly believe in democracy, if we believe in freedom, all of us must be loud and clear: Political violence, regardless of ideology, is not the answer and must be condemned.

They don't believe in democracy. That's it. That's the core of the problem.

"Cmon guys, talk it out! Now is not the time to enact political violence against Nazis who are continually stripping you of your rights and freedoms! Actually the fact you haven't talked to them enough and changed their minds means you're weak!"

🤨 OK Bernie.

Were the British soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War, or the Rebels Killed in the Civil War, or the Nazis killed in WW2 victims of political violence?

Sometimes a political spectrum becomes stretched so wide that there can be no middle ground. No amount of "spirited debate" is going to reach a compromise about who is due their life and freedom. The wolf and the sheep are never going to agree on what is for dinner.

Charlie Kirk absolutely leaves a legacy of misery and death. He shares blame for Jan 6, mass shootings, and numerous hate crimes. He may have never pulled a trigger himself, but the right wing terrorism he encouraged leaves the blood on his hands just the same.

American people at the local, state, and federal levels, and we hold free elections in which the people decide what they want

Sorry Bernie, you’re out of touch. We don’t have elections anymore, we have gerrymandering, and tampering, and intimidation.

Political violence, regardless of ideology, is not the answer and must be condemned.

Love ya Bernie, but I gotta disagree on this one. What he's saying is pretty much just more 'paradox of tolerance' that leads to the ratchet clicking further right.

People keep shunning what happened to Kirk as a crazy extreme response to a "difference of opinion" as though we're discussing a budget proposal for a new bridge or something. And yeah, with shit like that there's a justifiable argument to be made by both sides.

When the 'opinion' being advocated for is one that seeks to deny life or liberty because of their skin color or gender or w/e, it stops being a debate and instead becomes a fight for survival. That person is literally an enemy combatant spending their life trying to kill you. And when someone is trying to kill you, violence is absolutely a justifiable response.

...and I know that's not why the shooter killed Kirk, but even if it was a dark skinned /gay/trans/muslim/ who shot Kirk in response to his vitriol toward them, that's still fucking justified because he spent his life promoting violence to those people.

So no, if your ideology is that you hate people because of what's in their pants or the color of their skin or w/e, then you're a piece of shit; if you act on that ideology, then you're an existential threat to those people, and if that culminates with a bullet in your carotid artery then your death will mark a sudden reduction of evil and hatred - and that is worth celebrating.

Evil fuckers like Charlie Kirk should never be tolerated.

Nah, fuck Bernie for this.

A free and democratic society, which is what America is supposed to be about, depends upon the basic premise that people can speak out, organize, and take part in public life without fear, without worrying that they might be killed, injured, or humiliated for expressing their political views,

And who was it that was undermining that? Charlie Kirk.

Political violence, in fact, is political cowardice. It means that you cannot convince people of the correctness of your ideas, and you have to impose them through force.

And what if you can't convince people of the correctness of your ideas because they don't care about correctness, they only care about hating you? What then, Bernie? What if they keep pressing forward in complete denial of all logic and facts? I suppose that punching a Klan member is cowardice? I suppose when people rise up against oppressors it is because they are cowards? He's right that it MAY be cowardice that leads to violence. It may also be absolute obstinate stubbornness of the other side. What do we call that?

this chilling rise in violence has targeted public officials across the political spectrum

Ah, I guess that's why you, as an official on the political spectrum, are so convinced that it is evil. What a charming coincidence. What about the chilling rise in violence targeting thousands of normal people, perpetuated by Charlie Kirk? If I order my lackeys to execute someone, do we say I'm not a murderer? Do we say I was merely exercising my free speech? What if I constantly depict John Doe down the street as the root of all evil? When someone else kills John Doe, am I truly blameless? Stoking hate to get other people to kill on your behalf, now that's political cowardice, Bernie.

"I have a point of view that is different than yours — that’s great. Let’s argue it out."

Unfortunately it doesn't work out that way with these people. They almost always argue in bad faith, don't shy away from lying and are happy to falsely smear people with shit just so that they can win political points. They know that even if their lies are discovered it won't have any consequences for them but the stink of the shit that they hurled at their opponents will remain for a long time.

Love Bernie, but this is one more example of the Dems offering MAGA an excuse to continue to misbehave.

He speaks as if BOTH sides have responsibility for political violence when it is almost entirely the Right. When he talks like this, all MAGAs hear is him admitting that the Left is committing political violence, which gives them an excuse to retaliate against the Left for imaginary political violence committed by the Left, or even actual political violence committed by the Right.

Words have repercussions, always have and always will.

its not a democracy and you can't debate these guys. next.

It's certainly better than some statements I have seen, but it ignores the commonplace violence inflicted on non-elites every day.

Meanwhile, the president says he "couldn't care less" about uniting America

The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.

Unfortunately I don't believe a single politician would be willing to tell it how it actually is when it comes to Charlie Kirk and shitheads like him.

The leftist politicians have to play it safe to not hurt the fragile fee fees of the liberal voters.

Liberal politicians historically and currently vastly prefer Nazism over basic common sense pro-labor policies of any kind.

And the Nazis are Nazis.

Since when has America been about a free and democratic society?

Or are we just taking platitudes as fact now?

Political violence, regardless of ideology, is not the answer and must be condemned.

Apparently Bernie makes an exception for institutionalized political violence, since he did not mention capital punishment, abortion bans, the targeting and murder of queer people, school shootings by right wing radicalized youths, or more… only politicians. Political violence is more than targeting someone for political speech, it is villainizing minorities, depriving them of opportunities and needs, suppressing/oppressing/excluding them from normal public life, or even implying they are “other” by roundabout means. Violence is more than a bullet, knife, or bomb. Violence can be indirect. Violence can take the form of hateful, fearful words and ideas. It can foment and spread.

None of it can be tolerated, but when the victims are out of options what are they to do? Talk? Bullies don’t communicate with words but with fists. Are we to submit? To lie down and die? To give up?

I reject this blind idealism that includes no constructive action to back it up. It’s little more than a plea to voluntarily lie down while the steamroller runs us over.

We don't know why this happened so why are we calling this political violence?

The murder of Charlie Kirk is part of a disturbing rise in political violence that threatens to hollow out public life and make people afraid of participating. From the January 6th, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, to the attack on Paul Pelosi, to the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Governor Whitmer, to the murder of Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband, to the arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, to the shooting of United Health Executive Brian Thompson, and the shooting several years ago of Representative Steve Scalise, this chilling rise in violence has targeted public officials across the political spectrum.

Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon. We all remember the assassinations of President Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Robert F. Kennedy, John Lennon, and Medgar Evers, and the attempted assassinations of President Ronald Reagan and Alabama Governor George Wallace.

Kinda sounds like this has been a problem in the US for decades. Maybe the government should look into that.

But bottom line, if we honestly believe in democracy, if we believe in freedom, all of us must be loud and clear: Political violence, regardless of ideology, is not the answer and must be condemned. Thank you very much.

Ah, that should solve it! Well done, Bernie!