ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Republican Whip Steve Scalise was shot during a charity baseball practice in Alexandria, along with two Capitol Hill police and reportedly, an aide.

And moments before the shooting started, a man by the field asked Rep. Ron DeSantis, Florida Republican, if those practicing were Republicans or Democrats.

Three minutes later, the shooting started.

Fox News reported this: “Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., told Fox News he left just before the shooting. As he walked to his car, a man asked DeSantis if it was Republicans or Democrats practicing. About three minutes later, the shooting began, DeSantis said.”

Coincidence?

Let’s hope so.

Let’s hope the political atmosphere hasn’t grown so hot in America that those on the left actually think it’s acceptable to target and shoot Republicans — because of their Republican beliefs.

Let’s hope the political discourse in this country hasn’t become so vicious that Democrats and progressives and hardcore leftists have brought the Black Lives Matter mentality that saw targeted shootings against white police officers, into the congressional world — and now we have nut cases actually targeting Republican lawmakers to shoot and kill.

But the coincidence — the timing — of the question to DeSantis and the subsequent shooting is highly concerning.

“Behind third base, I see a rifle … I hear Steve Scalise over near second base scream,” Rep. Mo Brooks said, describing for Fox News how he used a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood from Scalise’s leg.

The gunman, meanwhile, has been captured by Capitol police — but it’s not yet clear if he was shot and killed, or only shot and wounded.

Either way: Democrats, listen up. Your all-courts press to take down President Donald Trump and the Republican Party has already caused chaos in the streets of America, on the campuses of colleges across America.

Cars have been burned, business store front windows smashed, people injured and police attacked.

Let’s hope the leftist politicking of choice — mayhem and violence, whatever means to justify a leftist vision end — hasn’t led to the actual shooting of Republicans, to the actual hunting of GOP members. Because that would be more than crazy. It would be the end of the republic, as we know it.

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.