WASHINGTON \u2014 The most ardent supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a>have long been outspoken about their anger toward Republicans \u2014 and in some cases toward Democrats. Their idol, the senator from Vermont, has called President Trump a \u201cdemagogue\u201d and said recently that he was \u201cperhaps the worst and most dangerous president in the history of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, in Mr. Sanders\u2019s world, his fans have something concrete to grapple with: James T. Hodgkinson, a former volunteer for Mr. Sanders\u2019s presidential campaign, is suspected of opening fire on Republican lawmakers practicing baseball in Alexandria, Va.<\/p>\n That shooting on Wednesday, which wounded four people<\/a>, may prove to be an unexpected test for a movement born out of Mr. Sanders\u2019s left-wing, populist politics and a moment for liberals to figure out how to balance anger at Mr. Trump with inciting violence.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth sides need to look in the mirror,\u201d said Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator who campaigned for Mr. Sanders and is working on a new think tank started by the senator\u2019s wife. \u201cWe have to decide what kind of language we are going to use in our political discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Sanders has advocated what he has called a peaceful political revolution. On Wednesday, he acknowledged that Mr. Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill., had been a volunteer on his campaign and said he was praying for the recovery of Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, and the other victims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am sickened by this despicable act,\u201d Mr. Sanders said in a statement. \u201cLet me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society, and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values.\u201d<\/p>\n His most prominent followers said that blaming all of Mr. Sanders\u2019s supporters for the actions of one was akin to blaming all Muslims for the actions of the Islamic State.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me, not with this shooting and not with blaming an entire Black Lives Matter movement when a random black man shoots a police officer,\u201d said Shaun King, a columnist for The New York Daily News who campaigned for Mr. Sanders.<\/p>\n He added that violence would not help move liberal policies forward: \u201cIf 20 Republican congressmen were shot and killed, it would not improve the chances of us having a better health care system. It\u2019s nonsensical.\u201d<\/p>\n To be sure, supporters of Mr. Trump, as well as Mr. Trump himself, have assailed opponents and the news media.<\/p>\n But long before the shooting on Wednesday, some of Mr. Sanders\u2019s supporters had earned a belligerent reputation for their criticism of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party<\/a> and others who they believed disagreed with their ideas. Sanders fans, sometimes referred to derogatorily as \u201cBernie Bros\u201d or \u201cBernie Bots,\u201d at times harassed reporters covering Mr. Sanders and flooded social media with angry posts directed at the \u201ccorporate media,\u201d a term often used by the senator.<\/p>\n The suspect in the shooting in Virginia put a new spotlight on the rage buried in some corners of the progressive left.<\/p>\n Mr. Hodgkinson filled his Facebook page with photographs of the senator and quotes from his speeches. Mr. Hodgkinson also wrote messages filled with expletives directed at the president, and a post in March said: \u201cTrump is a traitor. Trump has destroyed our democracy. It\u2019s time to destroy Trump & co.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Mr. Hodgkinson posted a cartoon on Facebook explaining \u201cHow does a bill work?\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s an easy one, Billy,\u201d the cartoon reads. \u201cCorporations write the bill and then bribe Congress until it becomes law.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s Exactly How It Works. ….\u201d Mr. Hodgkinson wrote.<\/p>\n That is not far from Mr. Sanders\u2019s own message. On Saturday, during a conference in Chicago filled with Sanders supporters, he thundered, \u201cToday in the White House, we have perhaps the worst and most dangerous president in the history of our country,\u201d to cheers from thousands. \u201cAnd we also have, not to be forgotten, extreme right-wing leadership in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam Lassila, 30, of Athens, Ga., who attended the conference, said Mr. Sanders\u2019s criticism of Mr. Trump was justified and illustrated that the senator represented \u201cthe kind of politicians that we want in this society, those who describe things how they are actually happening and not speak around them in platitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n