“I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It’ll be hard not to hit her with it.”

Kevin McCarthy

The House Minority Leader uttered these disturbing words at a July 31 event with Tennessee Republican state lawmakers.

Hopefully the Republicans won’t take over the House in the 2022 midterms, and McCarthy will remain the Minority Leader and he won’t be in possession of the Speaker’s gavel anytime in the future.

Many Democratic representatives are calling him to resign or at least apologize for his contemptible remark.

“It’s been 24 hours since @gopleader McCarthy threatened violence against @SpeakerPelosi. RT if he should apologize or resign,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) tweeted Sunday night.

To be clear, McCarthy wasn’t threatening violence against Pelosi, his comment was a pathetic attempt at a joke. But at the very least he should apologize for his intemperate remark. He may not have been actually threatening to hit Pelosi upside the head with a gavel, but some of Trump’s base may interpret his words as a call to action to physically assault the Speaker.

After all many Democratic congressional leaders are already receiving death threats associated with the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Our democracy is polarized around political lines, and we need a statesman to serve as Speaker of the House, and McCarthy’s sick joke is all the evidence we need that he is unworthy to wield the Speaker’s gavel.