GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher says he wants to “lower the temperature” of political division in the US.
Gallagher spoke Wednesday on WTAQ’s ‘The Morning News with Matt and Earl’, specifically bringing up the increase in sign theft, the vandalism of the Door County Republican Party Headquarters, and the siege of the GOP headquarters in Appleton during protests last week that required a police response to get volunteers out of the building.
“We don’t want anyone targeted because of their political beliefs or the slogan that’s on their hat or shirt,” Gallagher said. “This is Wisconsin, we’re better than this stuff.”
The division and violence could, Gallagher theorizes, be making conversations about race relations more difficult to have.
“I think we need to take a step back from the brink here,” he said. “I think we need to come together, because I think the tragedy here is that this brings us further away from a productive conversation.”
While he urged unity, he did lay the blame at the feet of Democrats.
“Certainly there’s something unique going on here, and for months, leading Democrats have failed to condemn the lawlessness and the violence that we’ve seen across the country,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher also criticized Governor Tony Evers and his comments following the police shooting of a black man in Kenosha last week.