Photo Credit: Governor Tom Wolf / Flickr
CV NEWS FEED // In the wake of the recent arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Penn., called the incident not just a crime but an assault on democracy itself.
McCormick shared in an article for The Free Press that he had spoken with Shapiro just hours before the April 13 attack. As their call ended, Shapiro told him he was preparing to host a Passover seder for 80 people. By early the next morning, an arsonist had set fire to the official residence where Shapiro and his family were sleeping.
The alleged perpetrator, Cody Balmer, has been charged with attempted murder, terrorism, and other felonies, CatholicVote previously reported. According to authorities, Balmer confessed to harboring deep hatred toward the governor and admitted he would have attacked him with a hammer if given the chance.
McCormick expressed alarm not only over the incident itself but over what he sees as a larger pattern of political rhetoric devolving into violence.
“The pictures of the damage to the residence are horrifying,” the senator wrote. “Yet even more frightening is the trend that this attack is a part of. And if left unchecked, this trend — of using political violence to settle our differences — has the potential to destroy our republic.”
He cited past instances of violence and political intimidation from across the ideological spectrum, including the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, threats against lawmakers and businessmen, attacks on Jewish students, and the murder of the UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
McCormick urged Americans not to excuse violence from “their side” of the aisle.
“I am sure there will be those who overlook the demonization when it’s their ‘side’ doing it,” he said. “But the truth is that no side has a monopoly on violence and the rhetoric that can incite it. Partisans may wave away my examples on the left or the right in favor of their own examples. But the pattern is right in front of us.”
McCormick said speaking out was especially important because the target of the violence is someone with whom he often disagrees.
“[W]e must call out the radical rhetoric and political violence that we have all witnessed over the course of this decade,” he said. “I am doing so now, specifically at this moment, when the violence is directed at my governor, not in spite of the fact that he and I disagree on many things, but because we do.”
The senator closed by urging political leaders to reject divisive rhetoric and model civility in public life. He said that leaders should remind Americans of their shared values and history.
“As we fight for our visions of the future,” McCormick said, “we must do so without demonizing our opponents, by avoiding venomous language that paints as evil those with whom we disagree, and by unambiguously condemning violence as a means for resolving our differences.”
