President Trump’s allies are vigorously pushing back against critics attempting to link his rhetoric to a rise of violence in the United States in the aftermath of Saturday’s mass murder at a Pittsburgh synagogue, and a spate of attempted pipe bombings, reports Bloomberg.
“Our president has the largest microphone, he has the largest bullhorn,” said President Obama’s homeland security chief, Jeh Johnson on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “This particular president has a particularly large voice and a large microphone, and Americans should demand that their leaders insist on change, a more civil discourse and a more civil environment generally.”
Jeh Johnson says the shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue and the attempted bombings “should be a wake up call to all Americans to demand change.”
“We live now in a very, very toxic environment that includes an incivility in our political discourse” https://t.co/aSW89AkQbj pic.twitter.com/udQFE4YmT8
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 28, 2018
Others were less diplomatic, such as GQ‘s Julia Ioffe and Newsweek‘s Nina Burleigh and others:
And a word to my fellow American Jews: This president makes this possible. Here. Where you live. I hope the embassy move over there, where you don’t live was worth it.
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 27, 2018
Thread. In case you’re forgetting the sequence of dangerous Trump rhetoric, which is easy to do now. https://t.co/NQFmCF6q4U
— Nina Burleigh (@ninaburleigh) October 27, 2018
Writers often say that if their work impacts even one person, then it’s worth it. To deny that the GOP/Trump rhetoric hasn’t led to the hate-fueled environment is to deny how messaging works. It needs only to impact 1 person. And it has impacted many more. Cc: @SteveSchmidtSES
— Allison Winn Scotch (@aswinn) October 28, 2018
We must have missed their condemnation of the more than 600 acts of violence against Trump supporters, while Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Maxine Waters and more have openly called for uncivil behavior against conservatives.
Meanwhile, mourners at a vigil for Saturday’s victims in Squirrel Hill were chanting “vote, vote, vote”
from the vigil in squirrel hill tonight. please vote on nov 6th. pic.twitter.com/bkSpgCS6bU
— liv ✨ (@oliviakelley32) October 28, 2018
WashPost front page points at Trump in both of the weeks terror attacks. pic.twitter.com/UmoAkmPsvQ
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 28, 2018
Coming to Trump’s defense
Vice President Mike Pence condemned Trump’s detractors in a NBC News interview which aired Sunday, dismissing suggestions that the president’s rhetoric contributed to recent violence.
“Everyone has their own style and frankly people on both sides of the aisle use strong language about our political differences but I just don’t think you can connect it to threats or acts of violence,” Pence said, adding “The president and I have different styles but the president connected to the American people because he spoke plainly and he spoke the way he speaks about the issues of the day in politics.”
NBC: “Have you ever asked [Trump] to please not use that type of language when referring to other people for the case of civil discourse in this country?”
PENCE: “Look, everyone has their own style, and frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use strong language…” pic.twitter.com/wrsBfCqHOR— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) October 28, 2018
Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said that Trump “has made it extraordinarily clear that we will never allow political violence to take root in this country.”
To everyone attempting to make the #Pittsburgh synagogue massacre about Trump rhetoric or Israel policies – have you no shame?
— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) October 27, 2018
The Hill‘s rising conservative voice, Buck Sexton, weighed in as well:
Over the past month, we’ve been told Trump bears blame for these horrific incidents:
1) anti-Semitic mass shooting
2) anti-Democrat mail bomber
3) Kashoggi MurderEverything terrible is somehow Trump’s fault now, always.
This is a delusion, and a very destructive one. https://t.co/wHK6VEm0XL— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) October 28, 2018
Mollie Hemmingway of The Federalist slammed the Washington Post over blaming Trump:
Yet another missed opportunity for major media to demonstrate their ability to cover things fairly. And at such an important time. https://t.co/0WS7JmKlz5
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 28, 2018
Leftist media are not honest.
They are awful, deceptive, and push the false narratives about Trump that incite the violence themselves.
— GaryTap (@tap_gary) October 28, 2018
Considering that yesterday’s Synagogue attacker hated Trump – who is demonstrably pro-Israel and received the “Tree of Life Award” for his support of Israel, the left’s kneejerk reaction is not only misplaced, but serves no purpose but to stoke tension during what should be a time of coming together.
via RSS https://ift.tt/2Oc0IqX Tyler Durden