Phil Montag was removed Thursday from his post as the co-chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party’s technology committee. In a recording, Montag was heard saying that he was glad that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot and that he wished he had died.
What Montag said
Posted on YouTube, the recording captures Montag further criticizing Scalise’s job as House Majority Whip. Montag seemed outraged, like many Democrats, about the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill. He took his outrage to a completely different level, saying that Scalise’s “whole job is to… convince Republicans to (expletive) kick people off (expletive) health care.” Montag also continued on to call Scalise vulgar names.
The Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb immediately removed Montag upon hearing the recording. She also stated that she had reported the conversation to police as a possible death threat. In an email she sent Thursday morning, she said “Wishing a Member of Congress… dead is disgusting and has no place in our party.”
Montag backtracked on his previous statements after the recording was posted. In an interview on Thursday, he stated that the shooting “horrified” him, that the recording had taken his words out of context and he did not call for Scalise’s death. “Like every decent American,” he said, “I am saddened and horrified by the shooting of Congressman Scalise.”
Laughing at and condemning the shooting
Montag’s statement was made in a conversation with the party’s Black Caucus chairwoman Chelsey Gentry-Tipton.
Gentry-Tipton is also currently in hot water over remarks she made regarding the shooting where Scalise and four others were shot. She had made several Facebook posts about the shooting, making fun of the events, mocking the distress of the other congressmen involved, and insinuating that the GOP brought a shooting upon themselves by backing the pro-NRA legislation.
Kleeb called for Gentry-Tipton to resign as the Black Caucus chairwoman last week due to her Facebook posts. Gentry-Tipton refused to resign from her elected position. Since she is an elected official, she can’t be removed, whereas Montag was appointed and can be removed.
The Nebraska Republican Party released a statement saying that the comments from Montag and Gentry-Tipton’s comments “completely reprehensible and disappointing.” They also called on the Democratic Party to denounce toxic rhetoric.
Kleeb seconded the Republican party, stating that she had seen political rhetoric get ugly, but never before to the level that it is today and that “it just has to end.”
More calls for violence
These statements come on the tail of what could be seen as a string of perceived violence pushed by the Democratic party. There has been a recent outcry of protest over a production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in Central Park. In it, the title character, who strongly resembles Donald Trump, is assassinated. There have been reports of conservatives walking onto the stage to loudly voice their anger at the play.
There also was the whole fiasco Kathy Griffin taking a photo with a gory Trump head lookalike.
Actor Johnny Depp attempted to make a joke when he asked an audience he was speaking to, “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?... It’s been awhile, and maybe it’s time.” Depp later apologized for his comments that he made in “poor taste.”
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer condemned Depp’s joke as well as the “Julius Caesar” play, saying that there is a “troubling lack of outrage we’ve seen in some of these incidents.” He also stated that the White House denounces violence in any form and asks that everyone else do so.
While Trump now is denouncing violence, he seemed to be possibly in favor of it when discussing the possibility of a Hilary Clinton presidency.
During his campaign, he spoke to a crowd wondering what would happen if Clinton were elected president and appointed a judge who was anti-gun. “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Trump said at the rally that took place last year, “Although the Second Amendment people – maybe there is…”
