When Rep. Roger Williams learned about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday, it sent him right back to the early morning of June 14, 2017, when a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers practicing for the congressional baseball game.
Mr. Williams, Texas Republican, recalled to The Washington Times that when the gunman, James T. Hodgkinson, began shooting, the congressman dove into a dugout for cover, injuring his ankle in the process.
At first, he couldn’t believe the chaos unfolding. But that thought soon gave way to one more influenced by the hyperpartisan rhetoric at the time, and a thought he had again seven years later when news broke of the chaos at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I went back to what I thought then. What I thought then was, ‘I’m not surprised it’s happening,’” Mr. Williams said.
Mr. Williams believed that Saturday’s shooting was a byproduct of the current political climate, one filled with anger, hate and divisiveness — a climate that shared similarities to Mr. Trump’s first term in office.
In 2017, Hodgkinson, a far-left extremist who posted a series of anti-Trump rants online, opened fire on the practice and nearly killed then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, and grievously wounded an aide, a lobbyist and several police officers during the incident.
At the time, lawmakers dropped their partisan rancor to stand behind Mr. Scalise and the others wounded that day and call for an end to the divisive rhetoric.
Flash forward seven years, and Mr. Trump’s top political opponent, President Biden, called the attempt on his life “sick” and demanded that everyone should condemn political violence. Even Rep. Nancy Pelosi, one of the former president’s most vocal critics during his first term when she was House speaker, rallied behind him.
“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society. I thank God that former President Trump is safe,” said Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, on X.
Mr. Williams said that the congressional baseball practice shooting had a similar unifying effect, but that it did not last long. While he hoped that the current rhetoric would cool, he expected the political climate to return to business as usual.
“When we had the baseball shooting, the kumbaya lasted for a couple days and was over with,” he said.
“I mean, we came together for a couple days. Scalise came back,” Mr. Williams continued. “It was great, but it was, it was, it was a couple days later that we were back and did the same thing.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.