Leading Christian conservative calls shooting “wake-up call” on rhetoric and social media
Tony Perkins, among the most influential Christian conservatives in the Republican Party, was preparing to mount a confrontation with convention planners over his disdain for how debate during the RNC’s platform committee was shut down on Monday, all but eliminating objections to the Trump campaign’s desire to soften language on abortion.
The attempted assassination changed all that, Perkins told The Associated Press after a prayer service in suburban Milwaukee Sunday evening.
“We live in a violent society. And we run the risk of becoming callous to it. And if we become callous to it, we’re going to have more of it,” Perkins said. “I’m hoping and praying it’s a wake-up call in many ways.”
“So, as a result, I’m stepping back from forcing the issue on the platform,” he added. “More divisiveness would not be healthy.”
Perkins called social media “a contagion” for toxic rhetoric passed along by people who do not feel that they’re heard by their government or leaders, and attributed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in part to the notion of overheated online rage.
“We need to stop,” he said.
And while thanking God during the service for Trump’s survival, Perkins told more than 100 in the Pewaukee church, “Lord, I believe that our nation is at such a volatile moment that yesterday could have torn this nation right in half.”
kappakai on July 14th, 2024 at 21:26 UTC »
MSNBC has someone on talking about what security agencies may have missed on this dude, red flags, warning signs etc. But it seems like now there were multiple opportunities to stop Crooks at the time of the shooting and they didn’t.
rozzco on July 14th, 2024 at 21:08 UTC »
I keep hearing pundits saying "outside the perimeter" and I'm like, is a rooftop 130 yards away really outside the security perimeter of an ex-president?
orcagal on July 14th, 2024 at 20:54 UTC »
Shit show all the way around. How does this even happen that that roof wasn't secured?