America must heal its sharp divide and end the divisiveness that led to Wednesday's bloodbath in which a President Donald Trump-hating gunman opened fire and critically wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-Texas, told Newsmax TV.
"Certainly our way out is for the leadership on all levels, local, state and federal level, to reach out and number one, stop the criminalization of politics and stop going after people personally," DeLay told host Bill Tucker on Wednesday's "America Talks Live."
"You can disagree, but you don't have to be disagreeable. You have to set the example – standing on principle and fighting for what you believe in, but don't take it personally. And certainly don't try to destroy the person that is opposite you. This criminalization of politics has just got to stop."
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DeLay said he has personal experience with the senseless waves of violence that have permeated the nation.
"A wonderful close friend of mine who happened to be my security officer, John Gibson, was killed in my office and this just brings back the memories of that horrible day," DeLay said, referring to the 1998 shooting rampage in which Gibson and another police officer were killed inside the Capitol Building.
"My heart goes out not just to Steve Scalise and the staffer that was shot, but my heart really goes out to their families, because I know what they're going through right now.
"It just shows you once again that the Capitol Police are real heroes, and they're well-trained, and they know their job, they love their job, and they protect members."
DeLay – author of "Revival! Revolution! Rebirth!: A Radical Call from the Former Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives," written with Wallace Henley and published by World Ahead Press – said he believes the United States needs to embrace God and spread love.
"My book is about putting God back into the public square," DeLay told Tucker. "And of course, the teachings that I believe in, the teachings of Jesus Christ. It starts with love. You have to even love your enemies. It's something that I had to learn.
"It took me a long time to learn it, but I had to learn how to pray for my enemies, how love my enemies. So, it starts with love. Love of country could be translated into love of your fellow Americans. Love is really the answer."
As well, as strict law enforcement, he added.
"Look at all the riots in California that have been going on lately," DeLay said. "Particularly on our university campuses, the destruction of property, the injury of people, and nothing happens to these people.
"They ought to be put in prison. They ought to be arrested. Not allow the law enforcement just sit back and watch it happen. The destruction of property and the injury of people. There's got to be consequences.
"Sure, go ahead, give your free speech, have peaceful protests. That's certainly embedded in our Constitution, but when it goes beyond that line, when it turns into violence, you have to shut it down, and shut it down forcefully and quickly, and bring consequences to people that are doing it."
DeLay added the Founding Fathers referred four times in the Declaration of Independence to God.
"And to the fact that God gave us our rights and then they wrote a Constitution that was God inspired, that was based on good people," he said. "People that understood what love was about, what God was about and wanted to reflect those strong values that had become American values.
"What we've done is we've taken God off the throne and put man on the throne so that man decides what is true. Man defines truth and values, and we end up where we are today: Where individuals can go to a baseball field and shoot members of Congress.”
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