‘I wouldn’t be surprised if a member of Congress was assassinated’: Republican Senator Susan Collins fears further threats against lawmakers will turn to violence
- “What started with abusive phone calls now leads to active threats of violence and actual violence,” longtime Senator Susan Collins told the NY Times
- Threats against members of Congress increased tenfold between 2016 and 2021, according to Capitol Police
- Some lawmakers have complained that despite increasing threats, it’s still difficult to get adequate security to make non-senior members feel safe
- Donald Trump caused outrage when he posted on Truth Social over the weekend that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell “has a death wish.”
- Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has been criticized for calling Trump’s supporters in Congress “MAGA extremists.”
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins warns that verbal attacks on lawmakers online and over the phone could soon lead to dangerous real-world situations, especially as members of Congress attend more public events ahead of November’s halftime races.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or a member of the House of Representatives was killed,” Collins told the New York Times on Saturday.
“What started with abusive phone calls now translates into active threats of violence and actual violence.”
Growing political divisions have fueled a wave of online confrontations that have gripped lawmakers and ordinary Americans alike.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued several bulletins this year alone warning of increasing threats against federal employees and others in the political arena.
Meanwhile, violent rhetoric is becoming normalized language to bolster the electoral base.
Donald Trump said late last week that Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell had “a death wish” on the Kentucky Republican’s vote to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.
And Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who is running for an open Senate seat in Ohio, said on MSNBC last month that Americans need to “kill and confront” the Republican MAGA movement after President Joe Biden angered the GOP by blasting Trump’s supporters referred to as “extremists” in Congress.’
Longtime GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine warned that verbal threats against members of Congress could escalate into actual violence
Between 2016 and 2021, the number of registered threats against members of Congress increased tenfold, according to the Times.
Some lawmakers are also reportedly spending thousands of dollars on security and taking extreme security measures to deal with the ever-hanging threats to their lives.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who faces a tough re-election campaign this year against Republican challenger Herschel Walker, is reportedly spending more on security than any other member of Congress.
Warnock has paid nearly $900,000 in protection fees since joining Congress after a special election in 2021, the Times analysis said.
Next up is reportedly Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz, who spent approximately $600,000 during the same period.
The number of threats against lawmakers increased tenfold between 2016 and 2021, the year of the US Capitol riots
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who receives more threats than the majority of her peers, criticized the congressional security system as unfair to younger members and lawmakers who do not hold leadership roles.
“You now have the additional responsibility of providing and raising your own financial resources for your own safety,” she told the Times.
She’s spent over $120,000 on security since 2021, according to the Times, and she claims it took more than two years to rely on Capitol Police for additional protection.
Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, reportedly had similar struggles to gain additional protection after a man who routinely parked his car in front of her house and made vulgar comments was arrested, and reportedly said he would stop if the Democrat from Washington killed herself.
Reportedly, Democratic Senator from Georgia Raphael Warnock (left) and Republican Senator from Texas Ted Cruz (right) are the two biggest security funders in Congress
After his arrest, it emerged that he planned to buy a semi-automatic weapon to continue threatening Jayapal until it “returns to India”.
The man was eventually released on bail with GPS tracking.
Jayapal told the Times, “I had to be put under tremendous pressure to feel like I was getting the attention of the Capitol Police.”
And in August, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s home was raided multiple times by apparent prank callers.
A person claiming to be calling from Greene’s home called 9-1-1 and told emergency services that someone there had been “shot multiple times” because they were “upset with their views on transgender rights,” he said Police report from .
The police report says the person told officers he was connected to a nefarious website “that supports cyberstalking” known as Kiwi Farms.