Progressive Violence Must End - President Trump Calls For Unity

Rep. Steve Scalise

Update 9:35 PM: MedStar Washington Hospital Center: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise remains in critical condition Wednesday night as the result of a gunshot wound to the hip and will require more surgery.

"Congressman Steve Scalise sustained a single rifle shot to the left hip. The bullet travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs, and causing severe bleeding. He was transported in shock to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, a Level I Trauma Center. He underwent immediate surgery, and an additional procedure to stop bleeding. He has received multiple units of blood transfusion. His condition is critical, and he will require additional operations," the hospital said in a statement.

President Trump and his wife Melania visited Scalise at the hospital.
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by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:   Progressive Violence Must Stop -  As the day has progressed, more information has become available about this morning's attack against Republican congressmen. It confirms what we suspected and what we have been repeatedly warning about for at least the past year.

The shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, was a crazed leftist and a Bernie Sanders supporter. Shortly before noon, President Trump announced during an address to the nation that Hodgkinson had died from injuries he sustained during the attack.

There is no doubt about the shooter's politics. A Washington Post reporter said that Hodgkinson's Facebook page was "an extended screed against Trump." A recent post by Hodgkinson said, "Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co." He often used profanities when referring to the president, which more and more Democrats are doing these days.

His hatred of Trump leads me to wonder whether carrying out this attack on Trump's 71st birthday was any coincidence.

His likes on his Facebook are also revealing: the Human Rights Campaign, Rachel Maddow, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and the most vitriolic so-called comedy shows like "The Daily Show."

Yet in the wake of this morning's shooting, leftists and so-called "progressives" were blaming conservatives, Republicans and the NRA for taking things away from people and undermining our democracy. One tolerant liberal wrote, "It seems callous to say it out loud, but Republicans are pushing a health care bill that will kill people. As dead as any shooting victim."

A group called Terminate the Republican Party posted on its Facebook page this morning, "And its one, two, three shots you're out at the old ball game!"

Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) told reporters, "The gunman was there to kill as many Republican members as possible." Senator Rand Paul, who was at the baseball practice, said that if Congressman Scalise's security had not been there, "it would have been a massacre."

Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) urged Democrats to "tone down the rhetoric." Collins added, "I assure you: I have a carry permit. I will be carrying when I'm out and about. . . it's going to be in my pocket from this day forward."

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) acknowledged that it is routine for Republican members of Congress to get death threats. He told Laura Ingraham that his wife also gets death threats. DeSantis added, "Even my six-and-a-half-month-old daughter -- people call into the office or write an anonymous letter saying that they would like her to die."

After the attack this morning, the office of Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) received this threat:"One down, 216 to go. . . Did you NOT expect this? When you take away ordinary peoples very lives in order to pay off the wealthiest among us, your own lives are forfeit."When the terrible assassination attempt was made against former Rep. Gabby Giffords, the left and its big media allies blamed Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. The charge was not a generic call for calm or suggestions that everyone needed to tone it down. Instead, it was that "right-wingers" like Limbaugh and Palin were causing such violence to happen.

As it turned out, the shooter had no link to conservatism whatsoever. In fact, a classmate described him as "left-wing, quite liberal."

In this case, Hodgkinson life clearly revolved around his left-wing worldview. He campaigned in other states for Bernie Sanders. He was marinating in the acidic rhetoric that is spewed out by numerous sources, not just political, but also cultural and in academia.

Over the past year, we have watched Trump supporters being assaulted and threatened when they went to rallies.

The Democrat nominee labeled nearly 63 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump as "deplorable" and, more significantly, "irredeemable." To Hillary Clinton and many of her followers, Trump supporters are beyond any possibility of being acceptable Americans.

We have watched while violent leftists have attacked conservative speakers and assaulted people who attempted to listen to those speakers. And virtually no one in a leadership position on the left in Congress has spoken out to condemn those campus riots.

People were assaulted at President Trump's inaugural festivities. Dozens are awaiting trial for rioting in the streets of Washington, D.C.

Conservatives and members of the Trump Administration have been routinely compared to Hitler, Nazis, fascists and are regularly described as bigots, haters of Muslims, women, blacks, gays, etc., and accused of committing treason with Russia.

One Republican congressman was nearly run off the road by an angry Obamacare supporter.

Where does this rage come from? It comes from places like The Huffington Post, a mainstream liberal publication, which recently ran a column calling on progressives to "escalate the expression of our outrage and our anger in a massive way."

The article went on to declare that no Republican "should be able to sit down for a nice, quiet lunch or dinner . . . even in their own homes."

These are fascist tactics used by Hitler's Nazis. And just like the political atmosphere in Germany in the 1930s, the environment here will grow more dangerous until the left stops its constant incitement and dehumanization of conservatives and Trump supporters.

The assassination porn -- whether it is a Shakespeare in the park play, rap videos, murals on college campuses or a repugnant comedian -- must stop now.

Every elected Democrat, certainly those in Congress, should be asked by the media, "When was the last time you condemned violence from the left?" They should also be asked, "Will you now call on your left-wing base to stop the physical intimidation and rhetoric that is stoking violence?"

But I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for left-wing reporters to act like responsible journalists.

President Trump Calls For Unity - In his address to the nation this morning, President Trump promised his full support to Rep. Steve Scalise and his family. Rep. Scalise is reportedly in critical condition.

The president praised the courageous law enforcement officers who took down the attacker. Once again, good guys with guns stopped a bad guy a with a gun.

President Trump also called for unity, urging Americans to work together for the common good and to "cherish those you love." Watch the president's statement here.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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