Exclusive – J.D. Vance: Tim Ryan’s ‘Kill and Confront’ Comment Was Another Attempt from the Left to Engage in Political Violence

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Republican J.D. Vance, running for Ohio’s open United States Senate seat, blasted his opponent Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) by saying his “kill and confront” MAGA was just another attempt from the left to engage in political violence.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News the weekend before last, Vance blasted Ryan’s “kill and confront” MAGA comments and doubled down on his “extreme rhetoric” as just another attempt from the left to engage in political violence, after a debate this month where Ryan included Vance in a group of people he labeled as “extremists.”

The interview took place in Chillicothe, roughly 100 miles outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, while the Buckeye State Republican was making a swing through the southeast part of the state to channel his Appalachian roots with two weeks left in the race.

Vance told Breitbart News that if any Republican had attempted to make the same comments as Ryan did — such as wanting to “kill and confront” the far left or “kill and confront” the radical Democrats — “it would be around-the-clock national news” and “every single media figure would accuse you of inciting murder against Democratic leadership.”

The Buckeye State Republican explained that “it’s more of a commentary on the media” because Ryan has said “a lot of stupid stuff” over his last 20 years in Washington, DC, but “that the media won’t call him out on some pretty extreme rhetoric, and I do think some pretty extreme dangerous rhetoric.”

“I think that it’s irresponsible for Tim Ryan to use that rhetoric when his side is engaged in political violence,” he added.

Vance, when discussing the violence that happened during the riots throughout 2020, said, “What happened over the summer of 2020, where the media and major political figures actively encouraged looting, rioting, burning down of cities, is a far bigger threat to democracy than anything that’s happened since.”

“We’re talking about 26 people dead, tens of billions of dollars of property damage, entire communities are effectively destroyed, and it’s taken them years to recover, and the media and the Democrats egged it on,” he explained. “For them to come back and say I’m a threat to democracy because I think that people have a right to a speedy jury trial…It’s the craziest and most ridiculous accusation.”

Vance also spoke to Breitbart News about the need for a new Congress to reverse federal immigration laws that allow multinational corporations to replace American professionals — often in high-paying STEM jobs — with cheaper foreign workers on the H-1B visa program.

He also acknowledged that the country needs a “new generation of leaders,” not the “old generation” like his opponent, in addition to the U.S. needing to “protect” American single-family homes and farmland from foreign investors such as China and billionaires such as Bill Gates.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.