Florida Parish News

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on CBS News' "CBS Mornings" to discuss the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. Scalise emphasized the need for Americans to reject political violence and instead engage in civil debate and democratic processes.

Reflecting on Kirk's impact, Scalise said, “It's so sad for so many reasons. Charlie was somebody we all respected. Charlie was somebody that inspired young people, and not just young people, millions of people to get involved in politics, even people who didn't agree with him. But it was partly because he did engage with people, as you mentioned, in discourse. Even if people disagreed with him, he wasn't calling them names. He would engage and talk about the differences. We've got to get back to that. We cannot let what happened yesterday be the norm. Unfortunately, we've seen politics degrading, where some people feel if they disagree with you politically, they've got to try to go and eliminate those people. That is not what America is. We solve our differences at the ballot box. It's just sad that what happened yesterday in Utah did happen. I sure support law enforcement in their efforts to catch the shooter, and I'm confident they will. But it's just such a sad loss for our country.”

Scalise also shared his personal experience as a victim of political violence during a 2017 shooting targeting members of Congress based on their political beliefs: “Yesterday was a tough day. I mean, as I'm processing what happened to Charlie, and he hadn't passed away yet, but you could see from the videos that were out there, it was a bad shot. I'm praying for his family, and I think we all need to keep Charlie's family, my gosh, that beautiful young family in our prayers. But then we had votes on the House floor, and we were on the House floor for about an hour and a half. It was hard to focus because my mind just kept going back to Charlie and his family.

“Surely went back to 2017 and the shooting where a crazed gunman tried to kill me and about a dozen other members of Congress because of our political beliefs. You just don't want, and this can't be allowed to be acceptable. We all have to denounce what happened yesterday and all resolve to do better. Our friends that we know that maybe get more vitriolic. You can be angry about politics, but you don't express that violently.”

He called for everyone—especially those involved in politics—to avoid personal attacks or demonization: “What we all need to do is, number one, recognize one of the greatest things in America is that we do have differences and that we can express them. There are countries where you can't. You'll be executed in the street for disagreeing with your government. So number one celebrate the fact that we have differences and we can freely express them . And don't allow anybody to try threaten somebody ,to try physically attack somebody for their differences .And that's not just all us politics .We clearly need do better .I share with my colleagues all time .We're going have differences .Don't make them personal .Don't try demonize .You almost make somebody character ,meme ,instead human being .That's what all are ,and that's what Charlie was.”

Steve Scalise has represented Louisiana’s 1st district in Congress since 2008 after succeeding Bobby Jindal (https://scalise.house.gov/about). Before joining Congress he served both in Louisiana’s House of Representatives from 1996 until 2008 as well as briefly serving on Louisiana’s Senate (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S001176). Born in New Orleans in 1965 Scalise currently lives in Jefferson; he holds a BS degree from Louisiana State University.