Former President Donald Trump will return to Butler, Pennsylvania, for another rally on October 5th. Is his willingness to return to the site of his first assassination attempt a sign of strength? Rep. Steve Scalise believes so. Scalise, who survived an assassin’s bullet himself, tells Glenn that conquering fear is the only way forward for Trump: “I made an early decision…I’m not going to worry about what got me here. God spared me...I’ve talked to Trump about this since Butler.” He also explains why he believes Congress MUST look into everything surrounding the 2 assassination attempts: “I’m not a big believer in coincidence.”
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: I don't think so. But the one guy I would really know is Steve. He would know what it's like. Steve Scalise is with us now.
Steve, how are you?
STEVE: Well, doing great, Glenn. How are you, Glenn? It's been a long time, really great to talk to you.
GLENN: I know. I know.
Listen, I just wanted to talk to you, because what I'm seeing from Donald Trump. And especially now that he's going back to the same place where the shooting happened this summer.
You are the one guy that can relate to being shot, for your views. For who you are.
And then walking back in crowd again.
What does that feel like?
How long did that take for you, to not that natural reaction, of -- of, you know, is there somebody. Am I safe? Am I safe?
Or did you ever have that?
STEVE: Yeah. Glenn, and I was in the hospital for three and a half months. So you have a lot of time to focus on, what are you going to do, kind of how will you approach this kind of new attitude, where, you know, you've been through something like that?
And, of course, those three and a half months, I was fighting for my life. So, you know -- but part of that, I made an early decision. Because I really needed to put all my focus into getting better.
You know, I had to learn how to walk again. Had to learn, was I going to be able to do things like that again? Go back to work?
So once I got that mindset, I said, you know what, I'm not looking back. Literally, rip off the rearview mirror.
I'm not going to worry about what got me here. Like I knew, I was given a second chance.
And believe me, I talked to President Trump about this since Butler. And when we talked kind of -- because he came to the hospital, the day of you his shooting.
It was his birthday. He and Melania came. Consoled my family at that moment.
I just made that decision. I'm not going to be a victim. Focus on why he did it. Why he got there. I have to put all my energy into getting better, or else, I won't get better.
Once I did that, it changed my outlook and my focus. You know, I went back to the ball field, when I got out of the hospital because I wanted to do that. I wanted to run back, and go -- like, I'm not going to live in fear. And we did that.
And it was therapeutic. It was emotional, but it was therapeutic. And then just, you know, I got on with my life. And I said, you know, God. And believe me, I have deep faith. But I put my faith in God.
And he took care of me that day. There were miracles performed. You kind of have to say, it's in his hands. He knows what's going to happen, next, more than we do.
He gives us the tools. But he also gives us the freedom to go fail. To go succeed. To do whatever we want to do. But he also looks out for us. And at some point, you have to just have that faith, that God has the big bigger plan. You've got to control your day to day. But what are you going to focus your energy on today?
Are you going to be positive, or negative? And I choose to be positive.
GLENN: Do you -- in watching Donald Trump, I mean, he went down on the ground.
I mean, if he would have moved his head just slightly differently, he would have been dead today.
It would have been the worst live television broadcast of all time.
And, but, you know, he moved his head that way. I think that was -- I think that was God, interacting there.
STEVE: It was Divine Intervention. Absolutely. And, look, he knows that too, Glenn.
You know, that was part of the conversation we had. He was like, Steve, I know I shouldn't be here. And I think that recognition where you recognize, life is bigger than yourself. You know, somebody does have a hand in all of this.
And you just got to let some of that go, and realize, you can do all -- everything right. And get hit by a truck one day. Like, you don't know what will happen. So just live your life. Do the best you can every day.
Here's a man, Donald Trump, who has put himself up for persecution. By so many people who have gone after him. And yet, figuratively, literally, legally, all of that.
And yet, he still moves forward. He still knows, I have to do this for the country. And he believes that.
And the country believes that too. You know, you go to a Trump rally. You go to any part of the country. And, you know, people know, we are at a very volatile time right now. And a fragile time in the country.
You know, which direction are we going to take in the nation. And these are bigger questions than anything individual. But Donald Trump represents that, you know, do we want to get back to what our country was really founded on.
You know, free market principles. You control your destiny. Government is there to control your life. Not to tell you what you can and cannot do. This is going to decide all of that on November 5th. He knows, he's the only one right now, who can really turn this around.
And I believe that. I think most people do. And so he -- he recognizes that, yeah. There's people that want to stop it.
We've seen it twice now. And it's scary. You can't let fear drive your life.
STU: I'll tell you, my favorite line from him was, come on, guys. Let me play through.
STEVE: Yeah. That's 200 par. I was having a great --
GLENN: I mean, that is crazy. That's crazy.
STEVE: But, look, you have to have that mindset. If you live in fear, just go lock yourself in the room and go in the fetal position and you'll be neutered. He's not going to be neutered. He's not going to live in fear. And, you know, you got to put your trust in other people.
Obviously the Secret Service is one of those groups. And that's why we're fighting so hard to get reforms at the Secret Service because they have a mission, one single mission, not diversity or wokeness.
It's to protect presidents. Former presidents. Vice president. And they were failing at that.
And we are pushing hard to get them to refocus, to increase the security. We finally got that addressed to increase the level of security President Trump has.
That they were not given in that opportunity. And that led to some of these problems.
But, you know, at the end of the take can. You just to have say, I will still go the route.
This is who I am. And that's who he is.
GLENN: You know, the majority of Americans, think there will be another assassination attempt, before the election.
Which is really a sad commentary.
STEVE: Yeah. It is.
GLENN: Do you believe that this really was simply just a series of unbelievable mistakes?
Or is there any room for, hmm. Maybe some of these decisions were -- were conscious.
I'm not saying that they set it up.
But eh. Just let it slide a little bit.
STEVE: Look, I'm not a big believer in coincidence. You know, you live long enough. You see things that, you know, not everything adds up. But if you connect the dots.
You realize, okay.
There's something wrong here.
I really do think they can't be there are people. And this is why I'm really, really vocal about the language. When Kamala is saying. Not just, hey. I don't like his tax plan.
I don't like this or that.
It's, he's a threat to democracy.
He's like Hitler. He's this or that. That's telling people. And there are unhinged people out there, unfortunately.
And they here that as a call to action. And that's what was going on.
The second attempt of the assassin. Flatout used her exact language, about threat to democracy, in his mission to go try to kill the president. And so, you know, they've got to stop doing this. It's not like, hey. We all need to dial it down. No. There's one side saying specific things as being taken, as literally calls to action, to try to assassinate the president. That's what we have to stop. Whether it's truly coordinating the broad scale or not, it doesn't matter.
If somebody is taking what you're saying as, okay. I need to go take action in my own hands and try to kill somebody, you've got to stop saying that.
At some point, you have to look in the mirror and go, my words are causing somebody else to want to kill somebody.
And if you think, oh, I can just say whatever I want, you know, there's free speech. And then there's, you know, yelling fire in the theater. I mean, there is a line. And now you see where they've crossed it. And they've seen it. They need to stop doing it.
GLENN: So I had a brush, not nearly like yours or Donald Trump's. But a brush similar to the one that he had on the golf course. And I know that freaked me out. Immediately, I thought, what am I willing to die for?
What -- what -- it changed my language. You know, it changed. I was not going to die for things I didn't absolutely believe. Did that go through you as well?
STEVE: It was -- it was more a shift in focus. Like, what is really important in life? What are you doing all this for?
You know, especially when you get into politics. You run campaigns. And you say, I'm going to fight for this or that.
You know, I have strong beliefs.
Washington. You found out quickly. Not everybody believes in everything exactly like you do.
You need to start putting coalitions together.
Find people that maybe believe in 80 percent of what you believe in.
Because you won't get it done on your own. Yet, you still want to advance your cause.
I believe it. But also, most important. It's my family. I wanted to see my family. That's the first thing that came to my mind. When I was laid out, and not sure if I would make it through the day.
It wasn't gee-whiz, what's my next title going to be?
You know, the next bill going to be. You're not thinking about any of that.
You know, we will all walk away from these jobs. And what will you look back on?
What is it that they want? Well, first of all, you better want to walk back to the family you started with. And have your integrity intact. And then you can start thinking about, wow. I was able to move the needle on this.
Advance, what I believe, 20, 30 more yards on that. And, hopefully, you can say you did that. There are some people, that won't even be able to look back.
Because they spent all their time, just talking and trying to get attention. And they'll never advance their causes. And you don't want to waste your time in life. And so you do realize, time is important. Life is important. Make every minute count.
GLENN: Steve Scalise. From Louisiana. The House Majority leader.
Thank you so much for coming on with me, Steve. God bless you.
STEVE: Always a pleasure, Glenn. God bless you too. Thank you.
