Rep. Steve Scalise, a shooting survivor, target ‘incendiary rhetoric’ from left after Trump shooting

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was nearly killed by a gunman in 2017, said Saturday the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is a byproduct of Trump derangement syndrome that has infected far-left politics.

Mr. Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said he was praying for Mr. Trump and the rallygoers and thanked law enforcement for their rapid response.

Then he addressed the political climate in the U.S.

“For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning reelection would be the end of democracy in America,” Mr. Scalise said in a statement. “Clearly we’ve seen far-left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past.

“This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”

Mr. Scalise was grievously wounded with an aide, a lobbyist and several police officers after a gunman opened fire in June 2017 on a group of congressional Republicans practicing baseball in Alexandria, Virginia.

The gunman, identified as James T. Hodgkinson, was shot by the officers and died. He was a left-wing activist who supported Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, in the 2016 Democratic primary and had posted a series of online anti-Trump rants.

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