I’m a big supporter of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I admire the job they’re doing on the campaign trail. But I have one beef.

When Harris supporters chant “lock him up” at rallies, Harris and Walz need to stop staying silent, as they did during yesterday’s rally in Philadelphia. From the podium, they need to interrupt the chant, and gently but firmly redirect the energy in the room. Something along the lines of this:

“No, let’s not go there, friends. Sentencing is for the courts to decide, not us. Unlike Trump and the MAGA Republicans, we respect the courts’ role.

Let’s not chant “lock him up” like the Trumpers. Let’s respect the role of our American courts instead cheer about the role we will play as we vote…him…out. (Lead the crowd: “Vote him out..vote him out…”)

This may seem like micromanagement. It may be a bit of a wet blanket tossed on the organic enthusiasm in the room. But it’s vitally important.

As Trump has the country teetering on the edge of retribution-fueled authoritarianism, where he is openly promising he will use a newly politicized and weaponized Department of Justice to settle old scores with critics, this is an important teachable moment.

For years, Republicans have inflamed America’s anti-democratic tendencies by allowing and leading such lynch mob-like chants aimed at Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, who have been found guilty of nothing by the courts. That is leading the nation in a dangerous direction. Democratic leaders should show the way forward by redirecting their supporters in a full-throated pro-democracy direction.

This is the right thing to do for our endangered democracy and much-vilified judicial system.

At the same time, it is the right thing to do politically. It will be music to the ears of many persuadable swing voters — soft Democrats, soft Republicans, and independents — who will decide the outcome of this election. It will show them that Harris and Walz, in stark contrast to the vindictive authoritarian Trump, are the moderate adults in the room who can be trusted to lead American democracy out of this dangerous moment.