1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

Governor, no one should be threatening you, your family, or any elected official. Full stop. Political violence is unacceptable, and anyone doing it should absolutely be held accountable. But let’s not pretend this came out of nowhere. You chose to publicly attack your own Republican lawmakers, call them cowards, accuse them of “hiding,” and frame their refusal to bless a rushed redistricting plan as betrayal of the “MAGA agenda.” You escalated tensions by siding with the President over the people you actually govern. You poured gasoline on the fire — and now you’re shocked it’s burning? None of this excuses threats. But it’s impossible to ignore that the spike in hostility happened the exact week you began openly pandering to Trump and turning Indiana’s internal policy debate into a national loyalty test. That kind of rhetoric always unleashes extremists, and every elected leader knows it. If you want the threats to stop — and truly, we all do — maybe start by lowering the temperature instead of raising it for political points. Stop framing your own legislature as enemies. Stop using inflammatory language that paints fellow Hoosiers as traitors for disagreeing with you. And stop acting as though “supporting Trump” overrides your duty to represent Indiana, not a single man. You want unity? Lead with it. Because you can’t spend a week whipping up outrage and then act surprised when outrage followers show up. We can condemn threats while still being honest about the tone you set.