Four days after shots rang out while he stood at home plate at a congressional baseball practice, U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis used a tiny chunk of metal to make a point.
“This is a reminder that all of us … have to take a step back in this country,” Davis told Fox News on Sunday, holding a piece of shrapnel he said fell from his sports gear bag the day after an Illinois man opened fire on the practice in Alexandria, Va. Four people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a Capitol Police officer, a lobbyist and a congressional aide, were wounded.
“We have to tone down this rhetoric,” Davis said, “and we’ve got to come together as a nation, as Americans, and say enough is enough.”
A Republican from downstate Taylorville, Davis is among elected officials calling for unity and a scaling back of heated political discussion since the shootings. His five-minute interview with host Chris Wallace was followed by Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who offered a similar sentiment.
“Courage is truly not whether you’re going to yell at someone in the middle of an empty chamber,” Klobuchar said, “but whether you’re willing to stand next to someone you don’t always agree with for the betterment of this country, and that means finding common ground and higher ground.”
Davis, whose 14-county district includes Springfield, Decatur and areas east of St. Louis, called the Wednesday morning shootings “political terrorism,” inflicted by James T. Hodgkinson, of downstate Belleville, about 80 miles south of where Davis lives.
A former contractor and home inspector with a record of domestic violence, Hodgkinson, 66, had adopted increasingly strident views against President Donald Trump and Republicans. He was shot and killed by police minutes after opening fire.
Scalise, who was struck in the hip, remained in serious condition Saturday night, the last official update for the weekend. Media outlets reported that Capitol Police Officer Crystal Griner, struck in the ankle, was in good condition. The two other victims also were hospitalized and expected to make full recoveries.
Calling him “this maniac,” Davis said Hodgkinson had “turned his religion into politics. And, when somebody turns their religion into politics, they’re no better than anyone else that hijacks religion and tries to indiscriminately kill innocent people.”
Wallace noted that then-President Barack Obama made similar calls for calm and respectful debate in 2011 after U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Tucson, Ariz. Since then, Wallace said, political discourse has deteriorated.
Davis replied that he has a record of bipartisanship, “and now I want to stand up and ask the American people — those who are the majority of this country, who want Republicans and Democrats to work together — let’s stand up to the hate on both sides. Let’s stand up to the rhetoric that we see that leads to this polarization that lead to bullets being fired at a baseball field just a few days ago.”
The charity baseball game Republican congressmen were practicing for on Wednesday morning was played on Thursday night in front of nearly 25,000 people and reportedly raised more than $1 million for charity.
Wallace asked Davis if he’d gotten over the shooting “in an emotional sense,” or if was Davis “still in shock.”
The congressman said, “People tell you how you’re supposed to feel, but it never seems that you do.” He acknowledged being “a little more agitated” and that Congress needs to make security a higher priority.
“It’s still pretty surreal,” Davis added, before noting, “I can tell you this is the best Father’s Day I’ve ever had.”
Klobuchar paraphrased the words of colleague Mike Enzi, a Republican senator from Wyoming, when she said citizens can disagree on many topics, “but we can agree on about 80 percent of the things about 80 percent of the time.”
She acknowledged that Democrats aren’t blameless but added that Trump should stop posting tweets that draw attention from governing the country.
“I think there are areas we can come together with the administration, with the Republicans,” Klobuchar said, including infrastructure construction, workforce training and tax reform.
“But it’s going to be really hard to do that when those tweets come out at 7 in the morning,” she said, “and then the whole focus of Washington and the country is on what the president said last time. So, let’s use this moment to govern.”
