Capehart Claims GOP is Afraid 'Of Being Human' on Political Rhetoric #Political
If one were only to watch Friday’s edition of PBS News Hour, they would come away with the impression that “rotten” political rhetoric is mainly a right-wing phenomenon. Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart went so far as to claim Republicans are afraid “of being human” on the matter.
The background for the conversation was President Trump announcing he wasn’t going to call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after Democratic State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated. Host Geoff Bennett had pointed out Trump called Walz “whacked out” but didn’t mention other instances of Walz calling Trump a “tyrant,” “cruel,” and urging Democrats to be “meaner.”
It would be one thing to say Trump should rise above it, but Bennett should have at least provided some context. As it was, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru warned, “There's another element of this. On the one hand, you have got this political rhetoric, which I do think both sides, but disproportionately the president, has gotten rotten. But you have also got a lot of untreated mental illness in this country. And it's that reaction of those two things that is causing this threat level to rise.
At least Ponnuru managed to earlier mention assassination attempts against Trump and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Bennett, however, was more interested in only focusing on Trump and Republicans’ rhetoric, “The criticism, though, that there aren't enough Republicans who speak out forcefully to condemn that hot political rhetoric, what do you say to that?”
Now wavering, Ponnuru claimed, “I think that that's absolutely right. But I think Republicans have learned that when they fall out of line with the president, when they criticize the president, whether it's on rhetoric or anything else, that they're going to get punished for it.”
Capehart, who earlier in the segment during the Iran part of the discussion made the embarrassing mistake of referring to Top Gun as an Air Force movie, added, “That's actually quite frightening, which I think explains why there's been silence, crickets, because they're afraid of doing the right thing, of being human, will get them on the wrong side of the president of the United States. Folks should be very concerned about that.”
If PBS wants to argue they should keep their federal funding because they aren’t biased, a good place to start would be insisting that Democrats tamp down their “Trump is Hitler” or “Army parades are proof Trump is like Kim Jong-un” rhetoric as well.
Here is a transcript for the June 20 show:
PBS News Hour
6/20/2025
7:46 PM ET
RAMESH PONNURU: But there's another element of this. On the one hand, you have got this political rhetoric, which I do think both sides, but disproportionately the president, has gotten rotten. But you have also got a lot of untreated mental illness in this country. And it's that reaction of those two things that is causing this threat level to rise.
GEOFF BENNETT: The criticism, though, that there aren't enough Republicans who speak out forcefully to condemn that hot political rhetoric, what do you say to that?
PONNURU: I think that that's absolutely right. But I think Republicans have learned that when they fall out of line with the president, when they criticize the president, whether it's on rhetoric or anything else, that they're going to get punished for it.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: That's actually quite frightening, which I think explains why there's been silence, crickets, because they're afraid of doing the right thing, of being human, will get them on the wrong side of the president of the United States. Folks should be very concerned about that.
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