Blame Trump for violence?

Hill Republicans don't blame Trump for violence

Many GOP lawmakers agree that Bernie Sanders backers are to blame, even as they urge Trump not to exacerbate the charged atmosphere.

By Burgess Everett

Capitol Hill Republicans don’t want violence at Donald Trump’s rallies, but they also don’t want to tell the business mogul what to do.

As the GOP presidential field likely narrows this week, elected Republicans aren’t just divided over whether to back Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): They’re also split over how to respond to incidents of violence and a hypercharged atmosphere at Trump’s events.

In interviews Monday on Capitol Hill, no Senate Republican leader would directly blame Trump for the melee at an event in Chicago on Friday as well as recent confrontations in Ohio and North Carolina. Several of them agreed that Bernie Sanders supporters were likely behind the violent atmosphere at Trump’s campaign events, even as they urged the candidate not to exacerbate it.

“A lot of it sounds like it’s been organized by the Sanders campaign. There’s a professional protest class out there that can get energized fairly easily,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader. “But I think all the candidates need to make sure that they are conveying to people that come that they want to see that their events are conducted in a respectful, safe way and they’re not going to condone any type of violence.”

Republicans are in a tough spot as worries grow that Trump’s campaign events could degenerate into chaos: wary of antagonizing the likely GOP nominee and his legions of voters, but also not wanting to give Trump a pass for allowing tensions to fester at his rallies that could take an uglier turn.

In a radio interview on Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the events over the past week “very concerning.” But he didn’t call out Trump by name, and went on to criticize protesters for disrupting Trump’s event.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) hasn’t weighed in yet, but he’s likely to be prepared with an answer at his weekly Tuesday media availability if he’s asked about Trump, GOP sources said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sided mostly with Trump, who’s been unapologetic about his rhetoric and blamed protesters for wreaking havoc. The longest-serving GOP senator said he had his own run-in over the weekend with liberal protesters, who implored him to “do your job” and take up a Supreme Court nominee.

“It’s amazing to me in my life it’s always been Democrats who do that. It’s not Republicans,” Hatch said in an interview on Monday. “I hate to say it, I but do believe the media’s going to blame Republicans no matter what happens” at Trump rallies.

“I don’t see where anything [Trump] says is so inflammatory that it justifies doing what they did in Chicago. He’s funny in a lot of ways, he’s provocative and interesting. He’s all of those. So he’s certainly not calling on people to be rude and ignorant and invasive of the program that’s going on,” Hatch added. “I don’t think anybody on either side is really condoning that kind of thing.”

Trump has done little to discourage the tussles at his events, telling his supporters to “knock the crap out of” people who might throw tomatoes at him and saying he himself would like to punch a protester. He said he’s considering paying the legal bills of a supporter who sucker-punched a protester.

Trump’s Republican rivals only recently began criticizing him for not lowering the temperature at his rallies, if not further riling his supporters.

Hill Republicans have been even more cautious about challenging him.

“I don’t know the facts that surround this. Certainly we ought to have political discourse, disagreement, conversation, dialogue, without any violent activity,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). “But it seemed, at least from what I’ve read and seen, there are those who are creating violence to detract from the candidacy of Trump.”

Ryan was the most forceful on Monday, clearly referring to Trump when he said that “the candidates need to take responsibility for the environment at their events. There is never an excuse for condoning violence, or even a culture that presupposes it.”

But other Republicans challenged the protesters, not Trump. Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) wrote over the weekend that party leaders would be making a mistake if they joined Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ted Cruz in decrying the atmosphere at Trump’s events.

“For the three elected Republicans to blame Trump for violence committed by liberal Chicago thugs is like Barack Obama blaming U.S. exceptionalism for radical Islamic terrorism,” Cramer wrote. “I hope more Republican leaders condemn those who would deny free speech to Donald Trump and defend those interested in hearing him.”

If Republicans have any hope of retaining Senate control with their large House majority while running alongside Trump, they’ll need to figure out how to harness the enthusiasm of his supporters without being dragged down by his incendiary statements. The challenge is particularly acute for Republicans up for reelection in blue and purple states.

Republican leaders indicated on Monday that while they are certainly against violence, they’re also aware that many GOP voters believe rabble-rousers on the left are to blame.

“I’m concerned that people start looking for trouble,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, another GOP leader. “I would hope that people don’t read and hear things about these rallies and then start going there even looking for more trouble.”

Asked if Trump bears any responsibility for the tenor at his rallies, Blunt responded: “I don’t have an opinion on that.”