Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declares Trump Directly Responsible for El Paso mass shooting
By Guy Benson
Leave it to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to make the least fair point in the dumbest and ugliest way possible. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) late Monday said that President Trumps divisive rhetoric on immigration was directly responsible for the mass shooting in El Paso Texas that left at least 22 people dead.
The freshman New York congresswoman made the comments while speaking at a vigil in Brooklyn for the victims of the shooting in El Paso and Dayton Ohio according to the New York Daily News.
Im tired of the questioning if the president is racist. He is" Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd of about 500 people the newspaper noted.
The only person directly responsible for the Texas massacre is the right-wing immigrant-hating white supremacist terrorist and doomsday environmentalist who perpetrated it. Period.
Relatedly may I remind you that after a hardcore leftist attempted to assassinate a baseball field full of GOP lawmakers just over two years ago in the midst of Democrats screaming that a healthcare proposal would kill thousands of people there was no national conversation about progressive rhetorical excesses.
The media lost interest in the story mighty fast too.
Lets begin with a reminder that my position on partisan blame after horrific acts of violence has been quite clear and consistent. I believe its almost always grossly unfair and a cheap political smear to pin mass murder on mainstream ideological opponents even by implication.
And while Ive been a frequent critic of President Trumps language on any number of issues and while its true that the killers manifesto mirrored some of Trumps words and phrases (invasion and fake news) its a very dangerous and dishonest game indeed to claim that heated political rhetoric is even partially responsible for acts of extreme violence.
On that score lets apply AOCs direct responsibility rubric to another recent event:
The 69-year-old armed man killed by Washington State Police as he attacked a local Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center Saturday sent a manifesto to friends the day before the assault in which he wrote I am Antifa.
And he was being lionized by members of the left-wing group as a martyr....
Name redacted was armed with a rifle and incendiary devices when he launched his assault on the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma Washington around 4 a.m. Saturday according to the Tacoma Police Department. Employees reported he was throwing incendiary devices and setting vehicles on fire and the first officers on the scene said he was wearing a sachet and carrying flares.
The assailant was trying to ignite a propane tank when he was confronted by the officers who opened fire.
The Pierce County Medical Examiners office said he died of multiple gunshot wounds... Several friends said they received a manifesto from him Friday calling the facility an abomination and asking those burdened with the wreckage from my actions to make the best use of that burden.
Who or what may have inspired this unhinged zealot?
KIRO-7s report included a link to the manifesto where the attacker used the term Concentration Camps four times and referred to them as being corporate for profit.
Ocasio-Cortez injected the rhetoric into the national political discussion last month after she made the dubious claim during an Instagram live video.
The bomber repeatedly cited AOCs dreadful and widely-rebuked concentration camps formulation in his manifesto.
Based on her own standard which I reject she is directly responsible for a violent armed attack.
Will she accept blame? Will she turn herself in to authorities Lock her up.
Meanwhile presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren effectively blamed Fox News for the horror in El Paso:
Setting aside a different networks recent decision to give a megaphone to a bona fide white nationalist Warren is in an uniquely bad position to be flinging mud at others on this front this week. Thats because one of her own supporters shot nine people dead and wounded dozens more early Sunday morning in Ohio.
I do not blame Warren (or any other leftists or socialists whom the killer praised on social media) for his actions. We still do not know his motive and its entirely possible that there was no political angle whatsoever to the that killing spree. Some media figures are making this argument as it congeals into a talking point.
If Elizabeth Warren were a conservative the usual suspects would be speculating about which elements of her platform and rhetoric helped fuel the Dayton shooters anger. Given her often harsh and borderline-apocalyptic tone shed be accused of fanning the flames of hatred and paranoia.
And his beliefs had they been right-wing wouldve been evidence enough. Instead Warren is shamelessly playing the slanderous blame game (alongside other supposedly respectable lefties) on the El Paso bloodshed confident that her own rules wont be widely applied to her vis-a-vis the monstrous acts of her own partisan supporter.
The double standards are so glaring theyre undeniable except among those who vigorously enforce and defend them.
Only certain information is relevant and important after all and facts unhelpful to the Real Narrative are either buried or attacked.
Ill leave you with this which I will likely be scolded for even noting:
By the way there is some evidence that the Dayton killings may well have been ideologically-inspired (as a twisted and irrational act of vengeance) at least in part.
Guy Benson a Fox News contributor and Political Editor for Townhall.com is co-author of the 2015 book End of Discussion: How the Lefts Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate Manipulates Voters & Makes America Less Free (and Fun). Follow him on Twitter @guypbenson.
