Trump’s July 4 Speech Sparks Criticism Over Remarks on Scalise Wife

President Donald Trump’s Independence Day address from the White House balcony on 4 July veered into unscripted territory when he recounted the 2017 shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Praising Scalise’s recovery, Trump described the congressman’s wife as “a disaster” because she was so distraught at the hospital and contrasted her reaction with “a lot of wives” who, he suggested, appear less concerned when their husbands are injured. “That’s the kind of wife you don’t want,” the president said, prompting laughter from First Lady Melania Trump, who was standing nearby. Earlier in the day, at an event in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump also told supporters he habitually calls his wife “First Lady” in private, quipping that the nickname reminds him he is president. The public appearances were part of a holiday push to highlight a sweeping spending package that cleared Congress on 3 July and was signed moments after the White House remarks.