Steve Scalise says Trump isn't any more responsible for the El Paso shooting than Bernie Sanders was for his


There was some disagreement on Sunday's edition of CBS's Face the Nation over whether President Trump bears some of the responsibility for last weekend's mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who was severely wounded in 2017 when a gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, said that it's a "slippery slope" to blame Trump for the violence in El Paso. The 21-year-old gunman in El Paso reportedly confessed to targeting Mexicans during the attack, and police believe that he wrote a racist online manifesto, which spoke of a Hispanic "invasion" of Texas. Trump has used similar rhetoric in the past.
Scalise said that the there is "no place" for attacking people based on their ethnicity, but that Trump was no more responsible for the shooting than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was responsible for Scalise's injuries, referring to the fact that the Alexandria gunman volunteered for Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sanders actually followed Scalise on the program, where he told host Margaret Brennan that Trump's "racist rhetoric" created a "climate" which is fostering hate crimes. He did clarify, however, that he "absolutely" does not think that Trump wants to see people get shot. Tim O'Donnell
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
September 14 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful north
The Week Recommends ‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants