GOP leaders say Harris calling Trump a fascist is 'irresponsible rhetoric'

Two key GOP leaders — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — made a pitch for civility on Friday, accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of using "irresponsible rhetoric" and “escalating the threat environment” when she said she believed former President Trump was a fascist.

“The Democratic nominee for President of the United States has only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus,” the Republican leaders said in a statement. “Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over. “

Harris said she believed Trump was a fascist Wednesday at a CNN town hall after Trump's former chief of staff, John F. Kelly, a retired Marine general, warned Tuesday in interviews that the Republican nominee meets the definition of a fascist. During his time as president, Kelly alleged, Trump suggested that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”

When asked by CNN whether she believed Trump is a fascist, Harris said: “Yes, I do. Yes, I do.”

Read more: What are Harris' and Trump's swing-state strategies for the final stretch?

Later, she added that Trump would be “a president who admires dictators and is a fascist."

Johnson and McConnell did not mention, however, that Trump has in recent months repeatedly called Harris a fascist.

"She's a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist," the former president said last month at a rally in Tucson.

In August, Trump referred to Harris as a "fascist person ... who’s incompetent."

The GOP leaders noted that after Trump faced assassination attempts — first in Butler County, Pa., on July 13 and then in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 15 — President Biden and Harris called for civility. In July, Biden said "we can’t allow this violence to be normalized." Last month, Harris said "we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”

“These words have proven hollow,” Johnson and McConnell said. “Labeling a political opponent as a ‘fascist,’ risks inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day. … She must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions."

The two Republican leaders, who have been briefed on threats to the former president, called on Harris to take ongoing threats against Trump seriously: “Stop escalating the threat environment, and help ensure President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from those threats.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.