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Amid the heightened politicized climate caused by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said today that he worries about politically motivated killings rising in the US.

“I really worry that someone is going to be killed and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation,” Paul said during an interview with Kentucky radio host Leland Conway. “They have to realize that they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence.”

The senator pointed back to the incident last summer in-which Republican lawmakers, including Paul, were targeted by a gunman while practicing at an Alexandria, Virginia baseball field, as well as the time his neighbor assaulted him at his home in Kentucky.

Paul noted that there are some people who “are unstable,” adding, “We don’t want to encourage them.”

“We have to somehow ratchet it down and say we’re not encouraging them that violence is ever OK,” Paul said.

The lawmaker also took aim at Democrat Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who told activists that they should confront lawmakers in person to “tell them about common sense solutions”:

“I think what people need to realize is when people like Cory Booker say ‘get up in their face,’ he may think that that’s OK, But what he doesn’t realize is that for about every 1,000 people who might want to get up in your face, one of them is going to be unstable enough to commit violence.”

Booker made the comments just before progressive protesters began demonstrating on Capitol Hill against Kavanaugh, often times directly confronting lawmakers. Many Republicans have suggested the protests were out of line and overly aggressive.

Listen above, via iHeart Radio (the relevant portion begins at 9:40).

[image via screengrab]

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