Democrats have also been involved in the growing vitriol in the United States, and it's not accurate to say that President Donald Trump's speech to supporters in Washington, D.C., was the sole reason his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, Rep. Ken Buck insisted Wednesday.
"I don't think the president, on a number of occasions, has acted very presidential," the Colorado Republican said on CNN's "New Day." "That's not the question here. The question is whether it's an impeachable offense. What I'm trying to suggest to you is the level of animosity and the level of vitriol between these two sides has been building for five or six years now."
That means that it took more than one speech or incident to cause the hoards of people to launch their violent attack, he told show anchor John Berman, and even though he did not agree with the push to invalidate the Electoral College's votes for President-elect Joe Biden, he does not think impeaching Trump is warranted.
"What I'm trying to suggest to you is that both sides are at fault and in America, we need to be very careful," said Buck.
Berman, though, pressed back, asking Buck who was to blame for the attack if not the people involved or the people who spoke before the incidents.
"I agree that the people who came into the Capitol are the people who are responsible for this action," Buck said. "But what I'm saying to you is that this animosity has been building over the years. It wasn't as if the president gave one speech and all of a sudden, people went from perfectly calm and thoughtful demeanor to this violent action that occurred, which is absolutely shameful."
He added that he's not trying to excuse the riots, but insisted "the actions that have led up to this" are typical of the impeachment push against President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Buck praised Vice President Mike Pence for refusing last week to use unilateral authority to reject the Electoral College's vote, calling Pence a "patriot."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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