Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) discussed mail bombs being sent to political figures, and the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh a day earlier that resulted in the killing of 11 people.

Coons said, “I think that is because of the caustic tone of our national politics, this hateful, deranged man is just latest in a series of violence this past week that shows that our national political culture is motivating folks who are inspired by hate, by fear, by bigotry to take up and act on their deranged ideas. I think there is a responsibility for all of us to lower the tone of hatred and division in our country.”

He continued, “I think those of us in national office, our president, those who hoped to be president, those of us in Congress, who have louder microphones who are heard from and seen more regularly, need to take responsibility for ways in which we lower the temperature.”

He added, “One of the things that really concerns me that weighs on my heart is the ways in which our president and a number of other national political leaders of both parties have used their megaphones in order to inspire and instill and energize folks based on division rather than based on unity.”

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