The two Republican leaders of Congress have unanimously condemned Vice President Kamala Harris's recent anti-Trump rhetoric. 

What makes this surprising is that U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has joined House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in this effort, given recent leaks about McConnell's opinion of former President Donald Trump.

Just the News reports that Johnson and McConnel released a joint statement condemning Harris on Friday. Take a look:

My joint statement with @LeaderMcConnell calling for Vice President Harris to stop using dangerous rhetoric: pic.twitter.com/4qhBaqR3S1

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 25, 2024

Background

Before getting to what McConnell and Johnson wrote, some context is necessary.

Just the News explains:

The [joint statement] comes after Harris made an inflammatory speech at the Naval Observatory on Wednesday, where she claimed Trump would "invoke" Adolf Hitler if he returns to the White House.

Harris did so, according to the outlet, after former White House chief of staff John Kelly, in a recent interview, claimed that Trump wanted generals who are loyal to him the way German generals were loyal to Hitler.

Trump and his campaign have denied the claim, and have issued a scathing putdown of Kelly.

Now, the Republican leaders have joined in this criticism.

Here is what they said:

Johnson and McConnell argued that Harris's rhetoric could potentially lead to yet another assassination attempt on Trump.

The lawmakers started:

This summer, after the first attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in more than a century, President Biden insisted that ‘we can’t allow this violence to be normalized. In September, after President Trump escaped yet another close call, Vice President Harris acknowledged that ‘we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.

Johnson and McConnell, however, go on to write that Harris's "words have proven hollow."

They continued:

These words have proven hollow. In the weeks since that second sobering reminder, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States has only fanned the flames beneath a boiling cauldron of political animus. Her most recent and most reckless invocations of the darkest evil of the 20th century seem to dare it to boil over.

Johnson and McConnell went on to call for Harris to "abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions." It appears, however, that it will be unlikely that Harris will do as the lawmakers ask. She has claimed that, with the Hitler statement, she was only presenting "facts" and "the truth."