Dem Leader Issues Plea Over Violent Rhetoric After Mighigan Church Attack – Still Gets It Wrong

Aafter the deadly shooting and fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, which has left five people dead.At a Monday press conference, Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye described the attack as “evil,” calling it “an evil act of violence.” “This left five people dead,” Renye said. “Eight people injured. As I said, this is an evil act, and it does not define Grand Blanc or who we are. At this time, what we know is everyone has been accounted for.”

“We still are in the process of clearing out that church,” he added. “But at this time, everyone is accounted for.”

Then Whitmer addressed the question of motive, saying officials are still working to determine why the attack occurred and that “we all have questions” about how it could happen. Authorities have identified the suspect as 40-year-old Thomas “Jake” Sanford of nearby Burton, Michigan, who investigators say drove his vehicle through the church’s front doors, opened fire on worshippers and then set the building ablaze.

But then she veered from the police chief’s description of the attack as “evil,” for some reason:

But I want to caution everyone, while we are working hard, while the good men and women who are working hard are doing so with due diligence. At this juncture, speculation is unhelpful and it can be downright dangerous.

So, [I] just ask that people lower the temperature of rhetoric. Keep your loved ones close, and keep this community close to your hearts. Let’s keep doing the work together. Let’s be kind and let’s love our neighbors.

Whitmer’s plea to “lower the temperature” is sound — but it rings hollow coming from someone who won’t name the party that’s been cranking that heat.

She called for calm without once calling out her own side, even as the country reels from a string of politically charged attacks — including two reported assassination attempts on President Trump and the murder of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 while he spoke to students. Authorities say the suspect in the Kirk killing was influenced by left-wing ideology.

Whitmer’s plea for everyone to “lower the temperature” would carry weight if she aimed it where it hurts — at the radical left wing of her own party. Instead she offered a bland call for calm while refusing to name the architects of the rage. For eight years Democrats and their media allies have demonized Trump and his supporters with apocalyptic labels — “Nazis,” “fascists,” the whole script — and too many on the left have either cheered or rationalized violence when it targets their opponents.

This isn’t abstract. We’ve seen people celebrate Charlie Kirk’s murder, justify violent attacks on ICE, and shrug at other deadly acts tied to hard-left agitation. If leaders truly want to cool the temperature, they must call out the instigators inside their own ranks who profit from escalating rhetoric and political violence — not treat every violent act as a generic failure of civility. Whitmer’s half-measure lets the worst actors off the hook.

Credit where it’s due: some Democrats, like Sen. John Fetterman, have at least refused to feed the frenzy. But too many prominent figures still prefer moral equivalence to moral courage. Until that changes, calls for calm will continue to ring hollow.