Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, that Republicans could try to “kill” Sen. JD Vance.
Raskin was referring to the hostility expressed by a small group of rioters on January 6, 2021, who said they were searching for Vice President Mike Pence to punish him for not rejecting the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote.
Much of Raskin’s speech was bitter and vindictive.
“Someone should have told Donald Trump that the president’s job under Article II of the Constitution, is to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not that the vice president is executed,” Raskin said.
“Pence has now joined more than two dozen officials from Donald Trump’s own administration in denouncing him.”
“A historical record. Pence is the first vice president in more than two centuries not to support the president he served with in a general election.”
“By the way, JD Vance, do you understand why there was a sudden job opening for running mate on the GOP ticket?”
“They tried to kill your predecessor.”
“They tried to kill him because he would not follow Trump’s plan to destroy and nullify the votes of millions of Americans. Your votes, Pennsylvania; your votes, Michigan; your votes, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona.”
“Are we going to go back to the days of election suppression and violent insurrection?”
In 2017, Raskins said Trump should be impeached as soon as he entered the Oval Office, based on a bogus “Emoluments Clause” argument, claiming that Trump’s business income should disqualify him from office.
Raskin also voted against certifying the 2016 election,
He also sat on the January 6 Committee, judging Trump and those who followed his example, arguing that Congress could reject the Electoral College vote.
Raskin’s speech, followed by Hillary Clinton and preceded an incendiary speech by Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), marked a shift from “joy” to division in Democrats’ rhetoric.
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