First of all, I am very sorry that GOP Rep Steve Scalise and four other GOP congressman were shot. Scalise is apparently in critical condition, and I hope he pulls through. In the wake of this tragedy, New York Representative Chris Collins (R-Of course) sought to politicize this tragedy by blaming anti-Trump rhetoric. Other GOP members had similar statements.
Rep. Chris Collins, one of President Donald Trump's most prominent congressional supporters, insisted that the shooting was directly tied to anti-Trump rhetoric from the left. "I can only hope that the Democrats do tone down the rhetoric," Collins said on a local radio station in upstate New York. "The rhetoric has been outrageous -- the finger-pointing, just the tone and the angst and the anger directed at Donald Trump, his supporters. Really, then, you know, some people react to things like that. They get angry as well. And then you fuel the fires."
Blaming the actions of the mentally deranged on fiery political talk that in no way advocates violence is disgusting.
Keep in mind, being angry and Donald Trump for doing things like taking away people’s health care is not a call to violence. I watched the most amazingly hateful rhetoric against President Obama spew forth from GOP Congressmen, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Bill O’Reilly, and all the other conservative shit-holes for eight years. Do you think if during that time, someone took a shot at President Obama or Democratic Congressmen that the GOP would have blamed anti-Obama rhetoric? There is no way that would happen.
For over a year now, I have watched hate spew from Donald Trump and his supporters against immigrants including Mexicans and Muslims. When Montana Republican Greg Gianforte slammed a reporter to the ground and repeatedly punched him for asking a question, did the Republicans blame over heated GOP rhetoric for the event? You know damn well they didn’t.
So now we have Chris Collins blaming left wing anger for the violence today. OK, let’s think about it and ask some questions:
1) Number of Democratic politicians who have called for violence: 0
2) Number of Democratic leaders of major Democratic organizations who have called for violence: 0
3) Political Party that called for “2nd Amendment Solutions” (meaning using guns and violence if the election does not go the way they want) during the past two Presidential campaigns—Uh, that would be the REPUBLICANS.
Being angry at Donald Trump and saying his actions are awful is not a call for violence. If it were, then that would mean that Republicans had been calling for violence during all of Obama’s Presidency, wouldn’t it?