Zeldin: Stop Normalizing Fringe Violence

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin joined Laura to address the disturbing rise in political violence—and issued a direct call for leadership to step up before things spiral even further. Zeldin, who has himself faced physical threats and a pipe bomb scare in recent years, said the moment demands clarity, courage, and a total rejection of fringe extremism.

“This needs to be treated as the fringe,” Zeldin said firmly. “And it needs to be treated with zero tolerance.”

Leaders Must Lead, Not Follow

Zeldin warned that too many in elected office are allowing themselves to be led by the most unhinged elements of their base. “These people in office have been following those people instead of leading them,” he said. “If you’re a leader in government, if you are a leader at all, you should be leading those people who follow you.”

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He called out the media and influencers who feed the outrage machine, pointing specifically to Taylor Lorenz. “People who might be followers of this assassin might now start following Taylor Lorenz—so she feeds into it, and it normalizes it.” Zeldin added, “We shouldn’t be trying to make assassinations great again in this country.”

The problem, he said, is bipartisan and escalating. “Whether it’s coming from the right or the left, leaders need to be sending the message—loudly—that this is not welcome in our society.”

Zeldin argued that Democrats, in particular, seem adrift and increasingly desperate in their tactics. “They can’t figure out the right names to call, the right tactics to use, and they’re getting more and more extreme,” he said. “We need to be debating ideas, not promoting political violence.”

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A Defining Moment for Morality

Laura noted that figures like Fetterman and Shapiro occasionally strike a more measured tone, but that others—like Hakeem Jeffries and the Squad—ramp things up with language that risks incitement. “After all these attempts on Trump’s life, and now Supreme Court justices being terrorized, something’s got to change,” she said.

Zeldin recalled recent footage of Senator Chuck Schumer being followed into an elevator by someone asking about Tesla dealership protests. Rather than deescalate or condemn vandalism, Schumer used the moment to attack Elon Musk.

“That’s the moment for leadership,” Zeldin said. “You turn around and say—stand down. It’s not OK to vandalize private property.” Instead, silence and redirection leave a vacuum that others, like Lorenz, are only too happy to fill.

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Zeldin brought the point home: “Taylor Lorenz talked about assassinating someone in business who has a wife, who had kids. What would she say if those two kids were in front of her? Maybe she wouldn’t be showboating like that.”

The stakes are clear. Political leaders must decide whether they’re going to defuse this dangerous climate—or fuel it. As Laura closed the segment, she made the choice plain: “Do they want to foment problems, or do they want to tamp them down?”

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