Trump Jr. Links The Alexandria Shooting To The Controversial 'Julius Caesar' Play

http://www.startribune.com/trump-themed-julius-caesar-is-talk-of-theater-world-unlike-2012-obama-version-in-twin-cities/427990033/On Wednesday as reports came out about the congressional baseball practice shooting, Donald Trump Jr. appeared to endorse a tweet linking the incident to the controversial production of a Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar, that depicts the murder of the Roman dictator made to resemble President Trump.

Trump Jr. retweeted one Harlan Z. Hill's post that read, "Events like today are EXACTLY why we took issue with NY elites glorifying the assassination of our President." "This," the younger Trump wrote in his retweet of the post by Hill, who is a contributor to Fox News and CNN.

According to witness accounts, scores of shots rang out on Wednesday morning at the GOP Congressional team's baseball practice. Most members of the team, which was preparing for the bipartisan game on Thursday, were not injured, thanks to the presence of Capitol police. GOP Majority Whip Steve Scalise was hit, but is in good condition and undergoing surgery, according to a statement from his office. A Congressional staffer and members of the Capitol police were also wounded.

According to members of Congress, the attacker carried a semiautomatic weapon. Officials said that the shooting was a "deliberate attack" but was likely not an incident of international terrorism.

"Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover," President Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the incident. "Our thoughts and prayers are with him."

Trump the Younger's "This" tweet from Wednesday morning isn't the first time he's commented on the Julius Caesar production being currently staged by New York's Public Theater. On Sunday, he tweeted that he wasn't sure about the boundary between artistic expression and political speech: "I wonder how much of this 'art' is funded by taxpayers? Serious question, when does 'art' become political speech & does that change things?"

This staging of the play, which has garnered much negative criticism, also features Caesar's wife Calpurnia speaking with a Slavic accent much like First Lady Melania Trump's. Both Delta Airlines and Bank of America have withdrawn their sponsorship of the Public Theater in the fallout.

"No matter what your political stance may be, the graphic staging of Julius Caesar at this summer's free Shakespeare in the Park does not reflect Delta Air Lines' values," Delta said in a statement on Sunday night.

As for the straight line being drawn from Julius Caesar to the Congressional baseball practice shooting, others were less certain about the connection: A Twitter campaign calling for Trump's impeachment noted that there was far less criticism of a prior Obama-era staging of the play, which depicted the assassination of a man who resembled the former president.