JD Vance took the stage in North Carolina on Wednesday with a sharp warning about the dangers of inflammatory political language, pointing to a recent shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas as a grim case in point.
According to Daily Mail, Vance, speaking in Concord, blamed the attack on a violent left-wing extremist who reportedly scrawled anti-ICE slogans on ammunition used in the early morning assault just before 7 a.m. local time. The vice president argued that such acts are fueled by years of hostile rhetoric from Democratic leaders and progressive activists against law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed shell casings with anti-ICE messages were found at the scene, while the FBI is treating the incident as a targeted political attack. Vance, surrounded by law enforcement vehicles at the Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, didn’t mince words about where he places the blame for this escalating danger.
Vance hammered home his point by citing what he called a pattern of attacks driven by the left, including the recent assassination of his friend and activist Charlie Kirk. He insisted that while unstable individuals exist across the political spectrum, the most high-profile violent acts lately stem from one side of the aisle.
“If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi,” Vance urged the crowd, directly challenging the language often thrown at Trump supporters. His words cut through the noise, aiming at a culture of demonization that he believes emboldens extremists.
He also took a swing at California Governor Gavin Newsom for labeling the Trump administration and federal immigration officials as part of an authoritarian regime. That kind of talk, Vance argued, lights a fuse for the unhinged to act out in dangerous ways.
Critics, however, were quick to pounce on Vance’s own history of harsh words, pointing out his 2016 private messages where he called Trump “America’s Hitler.” Social media lit up with posts like one from Michael Freeman on X, who quipped, “The difference between me and JD Vance is that I've never called Trump Hitler.”
Vance has since walked back those earlier statements, a shift made clear before his Ohio Senate race, but the irony isn’t lost on observers. Still, on Wednesday, he seemed far more focused on the present crisis than on old texts dug up for political points.
“If your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell,” Vance declared with raw frustration. It’s a sentiment that resonates with those tired of seeing officers painted as villains while risking their lives on the front lines.
Vance widened his critique to touch on broader policy failures, referencing the tragic murder of 22-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte last month, not far from his rally site. He noted the alleged killer had been arrested 14 times before but remained free due to lenient local laws.
“Because of soft on crime policies, she was murdered here, not in the war-torn country she was from,” Vance said, laying bare the consequences of what he sees as misguided priorities. His words strike at the heart of a debate over whether progressive approaches to justice are costing innocent lives.
He also praised North Carolina Republicans at the rally for pushing a bill to strengthen law enforcement support, urging the Democratic governor to sign it. “The governor’s got to sign it,” he pressed, signaling no patience for delays on public safety.
Wrapping up, Vance doubled down on a promise to crack down on groups funding unrest and political violence tied to opposition of Trump administration policies. “The Trump administration is going to do everything that we can to dismantle the networks, to destroy the funding, to make it harder for people to kill one another just because they disagree with what someone says,” he vowed.
His speech wasn’t just a condemnation but a plea for a cultural reset, away from vilifying language that paints entire groups as evil based on policy disagreements. The Dallas shooting, in his view, is a wake-up call to rethink how far words can push the vulnerable over the edge.
Ultimately, Vance’s message in Concord was clear: protect those who protect us, and stop the verbal warfare before more blood is spilled. Whether his own past rhetoric undercuts that message is a question for the public to wrestle with, but the urgency of his call amid rising tensions is hard to ignore.
