Vance encourages Democrats to 'pump the brakes' on Trump rhetoric

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Wednesday suggested Democrats should "pump the brakes" on the rhetoric surrounding former President Trump for the sake of safety.

Vance, speaking with reporters in North Carolina, pointed to the speeches at the Democratic National Convention this week, saying Democrats are possibly starting to "ramp up the rhetoric."

"So, I hope that they remember when you tell the American people that this guy must be stopped at all costs, most people are going to respond to that reasonably, some people are going to take crazy actions and take matters into their own hands," Vance said. "I encourage my Democratic friends to maybe pump the brakes a little bit on the apocalyptic rhetoric around Donald Trump."

Vance noted that he believes Democrats "recognize that when you say that the guy is an existential threat to American democracy, sometimes that means crazy people are going to take actions into their own hands," and that they "toned it down" following the assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally last month.

The convention speakers, however, suggest they may no longer be toning the political rhetoric down, Vance argued.

Various speakers so far at the Democratic National Convention, including former President Obama, have taken aim at Trump during their speeches this week.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), during his speech Monday night, told Vance that GOP voters "tried to kill your predecessor" in reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Raskin, who served on the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the Capitol attack, noted former Vice President Mike Pence was the target of many rioters during the insurrection as they looked to him as a last option in preventing the transfer of power to President Biden.

The Trump campaign responded to Raskin, stating the Maryland Democrat was "willing to politicize talking about assassinations just one month" after a gunman fired shots at the former president in Butler, Pa.

Vance said the toned down rhetoric is in part because of "Donald Trump's leadership."

"I mean, he had every right to stand up after he was shot in the ear and get really pissed off and blame the Democrats, and what he instead did, was call for national calm and national unity," Vance said. "I think to the extent the temperature's been dropped at all, it's because of Donald Trump, and again, people [accused] him of being a cowboy but he responded to that moment with a remarkable amount of clarity and calm."

Shortly after the shooting, Trump pushed for national unity, though those calls lasted less than a week following Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race. Trump has since waged a series of personal attacks on Vice President Harris, who is now the Democratic presidential nominee.