MADISON, WI – U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) joined MSNBC with Alex Witt to condemn the uptick in political violence, including most recently the attack on Paul Pelosi, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

Click here to watch the full interview, and find excerpts of Rep. Pocan’s remarks below.

On the Uptick in Political Violence:We want to extend our thoughts about Paul Pelosi, the Speaker, and their family at this awful time. There’s absolutely no excuse in any part of the political spectrum for what’s happening. I don’t know a Member that I’ve talked to that hasn’t received political threats. This has really been on the increase, especially since the Trump Administration. A lot of the rhetoric and the way the former President spoke in some of the more violent terms at rallies and things like that has certainly led to increased threats to members of Congress. That’s got to stop.Next year, I’ll have 30 years in local, state and federal office and being in public service. I’ve never seen it like this. I’ve never seen the rhetoric this level. The fact that people so much more overtly will say things that used to be more clandestine and not with their name, or leaving any kind of message other than the threat over the answering machine. Now, people are a little more blatant about that because they feel like they’ve got someone who has their back because of the rhetoric that Donald Trump put out there. It’s just a time that we all need to respect. We’re all part of the human race. We gotta be like humans. I don’t care if this happens to a Republican or a Democrat. This is an awful situation. You can’t have someone trying to stop political activity by violence. And in this is something we all need to stand up to. Doesn’t matter where you are in the political spectrum. This should be a no brainer.

On President Obama’s Rally in Wisconsin:
I’ll tell you the most powerful thing [President Obama] did yesterday was the message around Social Security. We know that a lot of people are still concerned about the economy, and that’s part of why Democrats in some places might not be as good of a place that they should be. But that’s global inflation, right? It’s not about Democrats or Joe Biden, however, what he pointed out yesterday in Wisconsin, was that the Republican Study Committee has a plan to put Social Security on the chopping block every five years. Ron Johnson, my U.S. Senator in Wisconsin, wants to put it on the chopping block every year. We know that Republicans have said they were going to go after Roe vs. Wade and a half century later they’re able to get rid of it. You have to believe them when they say they’re gonna go after Social Security and Medicare and putting it on the chopping block. And I think that was a really important message that the President said when he was in Wisconsin yesterday.On issues like Social Security, he was extremely powerful, everyone whether it’s themselves, or their parents, or their grandparents can be negatively affected by what the Republicans want to do by putting it on the chopping block, and he just delivered that core economic message so well. We all need to be doing that in these closing dates.

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