Published: Jul. 16, 2024, 3:11 p.m.
By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli addresses the media during a call for unity at City Hall with Mayor Eric Adams and other faith and political leaders Sunday, July 14, 2024. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
CITY HALL — Mayor Eric Adams had high praise for a Staten Island elected official this week over his response to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) joined Adams, faith leaders, and other political figures Sunday at City Hall where he spoke out against hatred in U.S. politics.
“Anger in and of itself is not a bad thing in politics. It’s what motivated me to go hang flyers and knock on doors as a volunteer. It’s what motivated me to run for office. People who are angry at the system are not the problem in politics,” he said Sunday. “Hate is the problem in politics. The dehumanization of your political opponents is the problem of politics.”
Thomas Crooks fired several shots at Trump at a Saturday evening rally in Pennsylvania grazing the former president’s ear, killing an audience member, and injuring two others.
While it’s not clear what motivated Crooks, a registered Republican, to try to kill Trump, Adams praised Borelli for his level-headed assessment of the state of American political discourse.
“I never was able to put my finger on what I was feeling and seeing in the city and country. He [Borelli] just really summarized there’s a difference between anger and hate,” the mayor said. “Anger can motivate but hate is different. Hate is calling for the destruction, the harm of people.”
Borelli’s Sunday comments at City Hall followed a Staten Island press conference earlier in the day during which he and other local Republican elected officials struck a similar tone urging for calmer political discourse.
On Tuesday, Adams and Borelli both expressed a need for calmer rhetoric, but both reiterated support for their party’s presidential candidates — Republican Trump and Democratic President Joseph Biden.
“Something changed in the air after the attempted assassination, and I’m glad many politicians are now on the same page,” Borelli said. “The rhetoric should cool but we need to be firing on all cylinders for our respective candidates. That’s a feature of the system.”