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More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers told Axios their constituents are demanding increasingly radical and violent action to stop President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to the outlet’s July 7 report.
“Our own base is telling us that what we’re doing is not good enough… [that] there needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public,” one House Democrat told Axios anonymously.
The same lawmaker said some constituents have suggested Democrats “need to be willing to get shot” while visiting facilities like those of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., was one of the few who spoke on the record.
“We’ve got people who are desperately wanting us to do something,” Schneider told Axios. “No matter what we say, they want [more].”
Another lawmaker said constituents told them “civility isn’t working” and urged violence “to fight to protect our democracy.”
“[P]eople online have sent me crazy s***… told me to storm the White House and stuff like that,” another claimed.
One Democratic lawmaker described the expectations as “unreal” and “dangerous.”
“What I have seen is a demand that we get ourselves arrested intentionally or allow ourselves to be victims of violence,” a lawmaker said, “and… a lot of times that’s coming from economically very secure White people.”
Another compared Democratic voters to the “Roman coliseum,” adding, “People just want more and more of this spectacle.”
“I actually said in a meeting, ‘When they light a fire, my thought is to grab an extinguisher.’ And someone at the table said, ‘Have you tried gasoline?'” another Democrat recounted.
The Axios report was released around the same time as a violent attack occurred in McAllen, Texas, where a man wearing tactical gear ambushed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at a federal facility. According to FOX News correspondent Bill Melugin, the suspect was killed after exchanging fire with law enforcement.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told USA Today that two officers and one Border Patrol employee were injured, including one who was shot in the knee.
