(The Center Square) – Nick Jacobs was struck when he saw Wisconsin state Sen. Kelda Roys’ ad announcing her campaign for Wisconsin governor on Monday morning.
There were photos of President Donald Trump, then Elon Musk, along with the words, “As extremists attack our freedoms while families struggle to get by, we’re fighting back together.”
Those, Wisconsin College Republicans chairman said, are the type of words that lead individuals to political violence like occurred last Wednesday when Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while debating on the campus of Utah Valley University.
“After watching it, and sort of talking about it, Senator Roys’ rhetoric, calling President Trump and Republicans extremists, that’s exactly the language that got us to this point as a country,” Jacobs told The Center Square. “There has clearly been no self-reflection after the events of this past Wednesday and it looks like Senator Roys and the Democrats want to continue to push harmful rhetoric towards Republicans.”
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication obtaining additional comment from Roys’ campaign.
Jacobs and his group concentrate on getting college students involved politically, often working on local campaigns, local elections and in student government. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls student said that included volunteering during Vice President J.D. Vance’s recent trip to La Crosse.
But the words of politicians have come under greater scrutiny for their risk following Kirk’s shooting, the shooting and killing of Minnesota House Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman and her husband and the assassination attempts on Trump in July and September of last year.
“The concern is that you are basically trying to say that the other half of the country is dangerous, which is not true and those are not American or Wisconsin values to say something like that,” Jacobs said. “It’s very irresponsible.”
In particular, Jacobs said, the comments are directed at Trump.
Jacobs said that he mainly operates the Wisconsin College Republicans account on X.com, where he directly commented with a quote of Roys’ campaign video, writing, “After a radicalized leftist Democrat killed Charlie Kirk in cold-blood, they’re calling us the extremists. This is unacceptable. Not only is this a tone-deaf ad and unbecoming of a gubernatorial candidate, it is deeply sick and evil.”
Jacobs said he was led to send the message after thinking further about Roys’ video and discussing it.
“They continue to push him as this incredibly dangerous figure, you are giving this message to impressionable people who might be convinced to do terrible things or, at the very least, it sort of saturates our environment with rhetoric to the point where it is impossible to escape it,” he added.
That’s why Jacobs plans to push hard for a Republican to be the next governor of Wisconsin, he said.
“We can’t have another far-left ideologue as the governor of Wisconsin,” Jacobs said. “We need somebody who is a strong conservative who wants to restore normalcy and sanity to our great state. I think somebody like Congressman Tom Tiffany would be excellent, if he were to decide to run.”
