Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was seriously wounded a year ago in a politically motivated mass shooting at a Congressional baseball team practice, had choice words for California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, who encouraged a crowd, Sunday, to discriminate against and harass political opponents.
The quiet, political force prevails, Scalise tweeted, “Civility and respect always prevails over harassment and disrespect:”
Civility and respect always prevails over harassment and disrespect https://t.co/4kF53WwE0v
— Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) June 24, 2018
His aide elaborated for The Daily Caller.
“Whip Scalise knows firsthand the dangerous consequences that can result from making political differences personal and vitriolic,” Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine, told the news outlet. “We are lucky to live in a country where we have the right to freely debate our differences civilly. Harassment is never an acceptable method of disagreement.”
Waters has drawn fire from across the political spectrum for telling an audience that they should trail members of the Trump administration and force them out of stores, restaurants, and public spaces as a way of “protesting” the administration’s policy on illegal immigration.
“If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” Waters said.
Scalise would know precisely how fanning the flames of political division creates violence. Last year, while Scalise worked on his pitching during an early morning GOP baseball team practice, a man from Illinois, armed with several weapons and a “hit list” of Republican lawmakers, opened fire.
The shooter wounded several Congressional aides, a lobbyist, and two members of the Capitol police force, and left Scalise fighting for his life, with a bullet just inches from several of his major organs.