DELAVAN, Wis. — The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called him a “village idiot.” Georgia House Democrats are demanding his resignation.

And some Republicans are distancing themselves from U.S. Rep. Mike Collins after he spread conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

The Georgia Republican isn’t about to scale back his rhetoric, no surprise to anyone who’s followed his career. What’s more, he laughed off suggestions that he “tamp it down” in an interview from the Georgia GOP’s headquarters at the Republican National Convention.

“If someone wants to tamp it down, the other side needs to tamp it down,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The first-term Republican has quickly become known on Capitol Hill and in his northeast Georgia district for polarizing social media posts, including some that critics label as racist or xenophobic. He was once temporarily suspended from the X platform.

But none of his online remarks have incited as much backlash as those he posted shortly after a would-be assassin opened fire on Trump at a rally Saturday in rural Pennsylvania. One spectator was killed, two others seriously wounded and Trump’s ear bloodied.

About 20 minutes after the shooting, when few details were known about the gunman or the circumstances, Collins called on the local district attorney to “immediately” file charges against President Joe Biden. About 10 minutes later, he posted: “Joe Biden sent the orders.”

The speculative and unsubstantiated claims in the wake of a tragedy ran counter to efforts by political leaders from both parties to call for calm as wild conspiracy theories spread online that Biden and his allies engineered the attack.

Authorities still haven’t established a motive and, since the 20-year-old gunman is dead, they may never get a full explanation of what happened.

Most political leaders have pressed for unity since the shooting. Biden scaled back his campaign’s attacks and said it was a mistake to tell donors it was “time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.” Likewise, some other Democrats have refrained from comparing Trump to a wannabe dictator or a threat to democracy in the days following the attack.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Trump and his allies have used plenty of incendiary language, too. He has called his political enemies “vermin,” labeled the media as “enemies of the state” and warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses the November vote.

Several GOP speakers at the RNC said they ripped up their speeches to soften their language after the assassination attempt. Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler acknowledged Republicans need to dial down the rhetoric, too.

“We all can do better,” she told the “Politically Georgia” podcast. “None of us do this perfectly.”

‘Blood spilled’

Experts say years of conspiracy theories and misinformation targeting pillars of democracy, from the judiciary to the electoral system, have eroded Americans’ faith in the government’s institutions and laid the groundwork for widespread distrust.

The wild claims and accusations that have ballooned since the attempt on Trump’s life have thrived in that ecosystem.

“Immediate, unassailable evidence of the event — livestream, AP photo, press pool — meant online conversation could jump straight into blame, conspiracy,” said Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Lab.

Other influential Republican figures fanned the flames, too. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted that “Democrats and the media are to blame for every drop of blood spilled today.”

Credit: TNS

And U.S. Sen. JD Vance, who Trump would days later select as his running mate, said in a statement on social media that Biden’s efforts to paint Trump as an “authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs” led directly to the assassination attempt.

But Collins’ statement hit a particular nerve. The son of a former U.S. House member, Collins was elected to his deeply conservative seat in 2022 after defeating a Trump-backed rival in a runoff.

Always a fierce Trump loyalist, he quickly rose to prominence within the chamber as a legislative workhorse — he was the first member of the freshman class to sponsor a bill signed by Biden — and a political animal.

He’s traveled the nation campaigning for other MAGA candidates for an “America First Congress” that could enact Trump’s agenda. And he’s a fixture in Georgia GOP circles, including trekking to Delavan to deliver a well-received speech Wednesday to the delegation.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Outside his district, the trucking executive is best known for a steady stream of viral far-right statements that antagonize Democrats and, sometimes, poke fun at the traditions of Washington. As for his remarks about the assassination, he said it was a reaction to Democrats comparing Trump to a despot.

“You’re daggum straight — this tamp it down, that’s not for me. I haven’t been inciting violence. But that’s exactly what we’ve been seeing from the other side,” Collins said. “Right down to where Biden says we’re an existential threat to this country. No, we’re not.”

It’s made him a frequent target of Democrats. About a dozen Georgia House legislators penned a letter this week castigating Collins for his “absolutely reckless and irresponsible” comments. It called his behavior “inexcusable and impossible to explain.”

“We are so fortunate that no one acted off of your willful ignorance in making these damaging statements, while you failed to operate with the steadiness and composure required of an elected official,” the letter states.

Several senior Georgia Republicans have been unwilling to defend his remarks, referring instead to statements condemning the deadly shooting and urging Americans to settle their disagreements at the ballot box, not with violence.

Collins shrugged off the backlash, telling the AJC his brand of politics is likely to grow stronger — particularly if Trump, along with a wave of his allies running for U.S. House seats, are elected in November.

“The only thing that will be different this time is that we’ll have more America First people in the House and he won’t have to do executive orders,” Collins said. “By God, we’re going to pass some laws.”

As to the Democratic calls for him to resign, Collins rolled his eyes.

“I don’t even have to comment on that one. What’s new?”