One day after a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers practicing for a charity baseball game, lawmakers in Washington are still reeling from the tragedy. The shooting left several people injured, including House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who remains in critical condition.
Partisan politics paused for a day as Capitol Hill united in prayer for those injured in Wednesday’s attack. “We are united in our anguish. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” Speaker Paul Ryan addressed his colleagues on the House floor, drawing a bipartisan standing ovation.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told CBN News he felt helpless watching Scalise go down as the gunfire continued. “People were nearly killed because of someone who got carried away with politics,” Paul said.
Paul says that had Scalise, as a House leader, not had his Capitol Police security detail with him, it would have been a “massacre.”
“True heroes, man and a woman, they confronted the attacker, returned fire. Both were wounded both in the hospital but probably saved the lives of many people,” continued Paul.
Meanwhile, the Democratic baseball team practicing nearby stopped and prayed in the dugout upon hearing the news.
“As I walked through the Capitol today, it was interesting that several times I’d walk past an open door into an office and I would hear staff inside praying,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told CBN News.
Lankford ended his Senate floor speech Wednesday exercising his right to pray for those injured and thank God for his protection. He says much of the conversation amongst his colleagues on Wednesday centered on the rise in death threats to lawmakers.
“We talk and disagree about things as a nation, but it shouldn’t elevate to this,” he continued. “This is not who we are as a nation.”
It seems we now live in an age and culture in which violence and calls for assassination. Entertainers and academics seem to fan the flames of discontent, inciting a violent response against President Trump and other conservatives leaders.
For example:
— A rap video depicted Donald Trump as a clown and showed Snoop Dogg shooting him with a gun.
— Last January at the Women’s march on Washington, Madonna said she was angry and outraged about Trump’s election. “Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House,” she said.
— Last February, the University of Central Florida Socialist Club encouraged young children to hit effigies of President Trump and Attorney General Sessions. One child could be heard shouting “Kill President Trump.”
— Also last February, University of California Fresno college professor Lars Maischak tweeted: “To save American democracy, Trump must hang”…and “Justice equals the execution of two Republicans for every illegal immigrant deported.”
— More recently, who could forget the photo of comedienne Kathy Griffin holding up the severed head of President Trump — a viral photo that traumatized the president’s 11-year-old son or a New York play advocating the assassination of the president?
The Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor said it’s not just the people who are advocating violence who are to blame.
“We are racheting up the rancor and controversy in this culture so much, said Gainor. “The media have put us all in a national pressure cooker and they’re wondering why some people explode.”
Franklin Graham echoed that sentiment in a Facebook, “Where did all of this political hatred come from? One party hating the other so badly. No compromising. No cooperation. No camaraderie. Some are saying the shooting of GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was caused by ‘political rhetorical terrorism,’ he wrote.
Mincing no words, Graham went on to blame some in the Democratic Party for the toxic political climate.”Leftist progressives in the Democratic Party just won’t let go of losing the election,” he charged. “They are going after President Donald J. Trump tooth and nail. They’re not just being obstructionists, they want to destroy this president.”
Nevertheless, Graham remained hopeful, saying, “Only God can heal this country. My prayer is that God will bring healing into the hearts of our leaders and that we could be one nation under God—united.”
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump called for unity as he spoke to the nation about the shooting. “America’s praying for all of the victims of this terrible shooting,” said the president.