Speaking in an interview on CNN, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) sounded off on the sort of irresponsible rhetoric pushed by his party, declaring that the sort of vitriolic messaging pushed by various high-profile Democrats is absurd and needs to come to an end. Of course, in a bad look for the party’s prospects, the sane Democrat who said as much is retiring.
As background, Sen. Durbin announced his retirement in late April, saying, “The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States Senator. But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch. So, I am announcing today that I will not be seeking re-election at the end of my term.”
He added, commenting vaguely on “democracy,” “The people of Illinois have honored me with this responsibility longer than anyone elected to the Senate in our state’s history. I am truly grateful. Right now, the challenges facing our country are historic and unprecedented. The threats to our democracy and way of life are very real, and I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to fight for Illinois and the future of our country every day of my remaining time in the Senate.”
Notably, Sen. Durbin was no moderate. As was noted on X at the time of his retirement announcement: “After 28 years, Il.Sen. Dick Durbin is retiring. I knew him well when I was in Congress & Governor. He is a career politician, hyper partisan Dem. & political insider whose wife used to lobby me. I’m surprised he is leaving. Making America Great Again one retirement at a time.”
Still, when asked about rhetoric on “CNN News Central,” Sen. Durbin noted that the Democrats have indeed gone way too far in the rhetoric they push, telling viewers that even mainstream Democrats have “gone too far” in some of their rhetoric and in “demonizing the other side.”
Commenting on an example of that, Durbin pointed to the claim that MAGA supporters are Nazis, saying, “I mean, this notion that we’re going to characterize MAGA as Nazis, for example. On the other side, that the Republicans would characterize the Democrats as a party of murder or evil.”
Continuing, he noted, “The outrage coming from both sides is unacceptable in both instances. So, yes, both sides can learn a lesson here. And the loss of Mr. Kirk is a good reason to do it.” He then added, “There is no place for violence in politics, and we ought to speak as one.”
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Further, the soon to be former senator noted that the Democrats are wrong in their pushing to blame Republicans, saying, “Some of the statements that have been made blaming the Democrats, blaming the Republicans are just flat-out wrong.” He added, “We’ve all got to do it together. A bipartisan effort to preserve this democracy.”
Commenting on the matter and how it is bad news for the Democrats, conservative X commentator Will Chamberlain said, “I believe this is the first time a normal, mainstream Democrat has explicitly stated that his party needs to tone down specific rhetoric Not surprisingly, it comes from a guy who’s about to retire.”
Watch Sen. Durbin here:
Featured image credit: By I, DavidShankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2301835