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Civil Society Under Fire

Softballs are strewn on a field at the scene of a multiple shooting involving a member of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., Wednesday, June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Va.  (Cliff Owen/AP)
Softballs are strewn on a field at the scene of a multiple shooting involving a member of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., Wednesday, June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Va. (Cliff Owen/AP)

After the baseball field shooting, we’ll look at civil society under fire. Are we coming undone?

Thank God it wasn’t worse yesterday at that baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia. Fifty rounds fired by an enraged 66-year-old at Republican Congress members and staffers practicing baseball! Several wounded. The House majority whip in critical condition. We can’t pretend it’s the first time. American political discourse has grown so harsh. So ugly. So violent. This hour On Point: American civil society under fire, and we how we turn this around. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Ron Suskind and Heather Cox Richardson are the hosts of a new politics and history podcast from WBUR called “Freak Out and Carry On.” 

Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, bestselling author, and founder of Sidekicks. ( @RonSuskind)

Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College. Author of, “To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party.” ( @HC_Richardson)

Michael Graham, commentator and columnist at the Boston Herald. Former columnist at the National Review.

From Tom’s Reading List

Washington Post: Lawmaker Steve Scalise critically injured in GOP baseball shooting; gunman James T. Hodgkinson dies in custody — “A man unleashed a barrage of gunfire Wednesday at a park in Alexandria, Va., as Republican members of Congress held a morning baseball practice, wounding five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.). President Trump said the gunman — identified by multiple law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois — died after a shootout with police officers, two of whom were wounded in the gun battle.”

USA Today: ‘It’s time to destroy Trump & Co.’: Scalise shooter raged on Facebook — “The 66-year-old Illinois man who opened fire early Wednesday on members of Congress practicing for a charity baseball game had raged against President Trump and once singled out House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was wounded in the attack.”

New York Times: Steve Scalise Among 5 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead — “A lone gunman who was reportedly distraught over President Trump’s election opened fire on Republican members of the congressional baseball team at a practice field in a Washington suburb Wednesday, using a rifle to shower the field with bullets that struck five people, including Steve Scalise, the majority whip of the House of Representatives.”

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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