House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on May 21 that Democratic leaders are contributing to political division and violence, citing their rhetoric and approach to issues such as antisemitism, election integrity, and border security. Scalise made these remarks during an interview with Fox Business Network’s Kudlow.
Scalise addressed concerns about the impact of political language, saying it can inspire violent acts. “We know for sure that the rhetoric from the left, especially their elected leaders, is driving a lot of the violence that you’re seeing. I mean, just look at some of the assassins, the people who tried to assassinate President Trump not once, not twice, three times. They’re regurgitating the very same talking points from some of those Democrat leaders. If you look at some of their language recently from Gavin Newsom, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem on down, it’s like their language is more aggressive. They curse out their own followers. They use, you know, curse language all the time. It’s like they got to talk tough and then they’ve got to threaten people, and then they’ve got to talk about, you know, violent things against their enemy. And all it takes is one unhinged person to hear that. And obviously we know when they say ‘Nazi’ and ‘threat to democracy’ and ‘Hitler,’ the comparisons over and over again that they make—those are trigger words to just a few people—and those people then go and try to kill the people they’re talking about. It’s got to stop,” Scalise said.
He also criticized Democrats for what he described as insufficient response toward rising antisemitism within their ranks: “You’ve seen this growth in antisemitism coming from the left… I’m glad to see that every now and then somebody will [call it out]. But look…the lead Democrat candidate for United States Senate in Maine literally has a Nazi tattoo… All the Democrat leaders have endorsed him…and they haven’t withdrawn [their] endorsement when that came out.”
On policy matters related to elections and immigration enforcement measures in Congress he said: “We’re working to get [reconciliation] in… We want to get the SAVE America [Act]. We passed it through the House… Let’s get that done to protect the sanctity of the vote… Voter ID—everybody gets that… Why not do that for vote as well? And then if you look at funding Homeland Security… Every Democrat walked away from that.”
Scalise currently represents Louisiana’s 1st district in Congress after replacing Bobby Jindal in 2008; he previously served in both chambers of Louisiana’s legislature according to biographical information from Congress. He was born in New Orleans in 1965 and lives in Jefferson according to biographical information from Congress. Scalise graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University according to biographical information from Congress.
In his closing remarks during his interview Scalise said: “The American people are not a people that wake up every day wanting to be angry at everybody… We’re an optimistic people…. The politics of hatred and division need fall by wayside.”
