Scalise: The Demonization of Trump Must Stop

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox News' Fox and Friends and CBS News to discuss the assassination attempt on President Trump at yesterday's Pennsylvania rally.

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full interview on Fox News.

Excerpts from Leader Scalise's interviews:

Leader Scalise on Fox News:

"I mean, everybody's got to look at the rhetoric. But, you know, it's one side that is going after Donald Trump in a way to demonize him personally. You know, when we talk about the policies of the Democrats and the progressives, it's those policies that need to be front and center but the left seems to have targeted Donald Trump as a person. They don't talk about how they don't like his pet tax and border policies. They just go after him personally, they demonize him."

…

"The rhetoric from the left was what charged [Leader Scalise's 2017 baseball] shooter and it was very violent rhetoric. It was rhetoric that's not even true about Republicans. And that's what's being said now again. It's got to stop. They do it all the time. And they just kind of act like well, you know, it's somebody else in society. It's not society, all it takes is one unhinged person, but that one unhinged person is acting on things specifically that are said by the left. That's what's got to stop."

…

"People that will tell you today they won't even vote for Donald Trump thought yesterday was a disgusting day that you know, one person tried to literally just take out the leading candidate for president of the United States.

"I mean, this is not a third-world country. We can't tolerate third-world activity in the United States. And if it were not for the hand of God and believe me, God was on the ball field performing miracles, that's the only reason me and a dozen other members of Congress weren't taken out that day. There were miracles that day.

"Yesterday, there were miracles. And I think the hand of God was there too. You can just see one centimeter over, and we're having a very different conversation. So miracles are still performed every day and thank God for that."

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"I mean, look, there's legislation right now filed by Democrats from months and months ago to take away Donald Trump's Secret Service protection. That's a very specific targeted action because they don't like the person. They can't tell you what policies of his they don't like. When Donald Trump was president, name something he did that you didn't like. You didn't like a hot, strong economy? You didn't like a secure border? You didn't like peace around the world?"

…

"They want to act like none of that existed because they don't like the person. I think maybe they're threatened by the successes he had, and that we can have those successes again. And maybe it threatens the people in power on the left. And that's something to be accounted for. But at the same time, you know what Donald Trump puts himself and his family through - thank God he does because any other person that's not as strong as Donald Trump might have given up a long time ago. But this man is strong and he knows he's fighting for a movement."

Leader Scalise on CBS News:

Click here or the image above to view Leader Scalise's full interview on CBS News.

"When I saw especially the unedited video with the audio yesterday, you know, it brought back a lot of memories, a lot of emotions. You know, when you hear the pops of the shots and that's a lot of what we sounded like on the ball field in 2017.

"My first thoughts were prayers for Donald Trump because he went down. We didn't know initially how bad it was. When you heard the word shooter down, that's what they said on the ball field for us. You know, there was a shootout there with Capitol Police - David Bailey and Crystal Griner were heroes that saved me and so many others that day.

"You saw the heroes yesterday. You know, the police who rushed to President Trump while the shots were being fired. And it just shows you the bravery and heroism of those men and women who put their lives on the line to protect other people. They performed quickly yesterday to hopefully save what could have been a much worse situation.

"Our prayers go out for the victim, the dead person who went to a rally, a political rally, and didn't make it home that night, as well as the others who were injured. So, you know, a lot of emotions and thoughts but really, it's one more example that, you know, this hypercharged rhetoric just needs to be dialed down.

"Let's talk about our differences. We have big, big differences, but this demonization of Donald Trump as a person that's been going on for years - it has to stop because all it takes is one person to act on it, like we saw yesterday, for something catastrophic to happen."

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"When things like this happen, it's a moment where people get angry, there's truly a lot of anger. But there's also this introspection, what can we do better? And I think look, I mean, clearly we have differences politically, that's not going to change. We don't stop talking about those but frankly, we got to get back to just talking about those political differences.

"And you know, what are our policies and approaches to improving the economy and improving the lives of people and securing the border and achieving peace in the world? Those should be the front-and-center issues. Not the personality of the person that's going to carry that out.

"And I think that's the biggest difference, you know, we don't need to demonize somebody else to make our point. And frankly, if you're trying to assassinate the character or the actual person themselves that you disagree with, maybe you've lost the argument. Get back to focusing on the arguments, on the differences that we have, but not the character assassination that we've just become too accustomed to."

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"Yeah, and I think moments like yesterday just kind of refocus everybody, reset everything. You know, in the shooting in 2017 for a long period of time, there did seem to be a dialing down and hopefully, with yesterday, we see a dialing down again."