Some Political Figures Who Condemned Saturday’s Violence Spoke From Experience

In a striking sign of how deep violence has become embedded in American politics, several of the political figures who condemned the shooting at Saturday night’s rally for former President Donald J. Trump had experienced political violence themselves.

“Political violence is terrifying. I know,” Gabrielle Giffords said in a statement. Ms. Giffords, a former Democratic representative from Arizona, was shot in the head at a political event in 2011, where six people were killed. “I’m holding former President Trump, and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence in my heart.”

One spectator was killed in the shooting at Mr. Trump’s rally, and the suspected shooter was killed by law enforcement, according to the Secret Service. Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” The Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies have not yet publicly confirmed that Mr. Trump was shot in the ear, saying only that shots were fired, that the former president was “safe” and that the shooter was now dead.

Investigators have released few details about the suspect, or his motive. But some politicians who have been the target of politically motivated violence, or attempted violence, offered their condolences to the former president.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former Democratic House speaker whose husband was attacked at their home in 2022 by an assailant who was looking for her, wrote in a post on X that she knew “firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society.”

“I thank God that former President Trump is safe,” she added.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat who was the target of a