While discussing the recent attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, former President Barack Obama was interrupted by a protestor.
On Saturday (October 29), while at a Democratic campaign rally in Michigan, Obama called on elected officials to “explicitly reject” dangerous rhetoric from supporters. While the former President spoke about this, a man yelled from the crowd, prompting Obama to respond, “Sir, this is what I mean.”
Obama then explained to the man, “Sir, we’ve got a — there is a process that we set up in our democracy. Right now, I’m talking. You’ll have a chance to talk sometime soon.”
He continued, “We don’t have to interrupt each other. We don’t have to shout each other down,” noting that “basic civility and courtesy” are still effective when communicating differing views.
Democrats have pointed to beliefs about election fraud in 2020 being to blame for the attack on Pelosi, something Obama alluded to in his remarks on Saturday.
“If our rhetoric about each other gets that mean when we don’t just disagree with people but we start demonizing, making wild, crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate,” Obama said.
Obama then condemned those who “stir up division,” explaining that taking advantage of anger and fear is “violating the basic spirit of this country.”
The former Democrat President, also mentioned intimidation at ballot drop boxes, saying, “If elected officials don’t do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric if they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand up outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt.”
