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Exploiting Massacres to Raise Poll Ratings
Townhall.com ^ | August 6, 2019 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 08/06/2019 6:19:52 AM PDT by Kaslin

It was two days of contrast that tell us about America 2019.

In El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, following the mass murders of Saturday and Sunday morning, the local folks on camera -- police, prosecutors, mayors, FBI and city officials -- were nonpartisan, patient, polite and dignified in the unity and solemnity of their grief for their dead and wounded.

But for the Democratic presidential candidates, the El Paso atrocity was like a loose football in the Super Bowl.

A mad scramble broke out over who would be first and most savage in indicting President Donald Trump for moral complicity in mass murder.

Never let a crisis go to waste is an old political adage.

And this crowd of candidates was not going to let that happen. Yet the naked political exploitation of these horrific acts, before the bodies of many had been removed from the crime scene, was appalling to behold.

Learning in Las Vegas of the slaughter at the Walmart in El Paso, his hometown, Beto O'Rourke flew back that same day and sped to the scene.

Railed Beto, Trump "is a racist and he stokes racism in this country ... and it leads to violence. ... We have a president with white nationalist views in the United States today." He called Trump's language about Mexican immigrants "reminiscent of something you might hear in the Third Reich."

Asked on Sunday by CNN's Jake Tapper if he believes the president is a "white nationalist," Beto eagerly assented: "Yes, I do."

Bernie Sanders, asked by Tapper if he agreed with Beto, replied:

"I do. It gives me no pleasure to say this ... all of the evidence out there suggests that we have a president who is a racist, who is a xenophobe, who appeals, and is trying to appeal, to white nationalism."

On the same CNN show, Sen. Cory Booker almost outdid Beto, "I want to say with more moral clarity that Donald Trump is responsible for this ... (mass murder in El Paso) because he is stoking fear and hatred and bigotry."

Booker went on: "We have a president of the United States who is savagely fraying the bonds of our nation by speaking consistently words of hatred, words of division, words of demonization and demagoguery. ... He is fueling an environment where white supremacists ... are finding more and more license to strike out against the vulnerable, to strike out against the immigrant, to strike out against 'the other.'"

Booker is saying Trump is rendering moral license to race conflict.

Elizabeth Warren issued a statement: "We need to call out white nationalism for what it is -- domestic terrorism. It is a threat to the United States, and we've seen its devastating toll this weekend. And we need to call out the president himself for advancing racism and white supremacy."

Ironically, The Washington Times reports that the Dayton shooter, who killed his sister and eight others, "described himself on social media as a pro-Satan 'leftist,' who wanted Joe Biden's generation to die off, hated Trump, and hoped to vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president."

"I want socialism, and i'll not wait for the idiots to finally come round to understanding," Connor Betts, the killer, reportedly tweeted.

Not to be left behind, Sen. Kamala Harris said of the president after the slaughter, he's "a racist, there's no question in my mind."

These attacks, unprecedented in their savagery, testify to a hatred of Trump that is broad, deep and implacable, and unlikely to be constrained before November 2020.

Folks still speak wistfully of a return of the unity America once knew and of a coming together to stand again on common ground.

But where is the evidence for that hope?

If Trump's fabled base is to going to stand loyally by him, and the Democratic candidates are going to unleash this kind of bile against him, whoever wins in 2020 will be not be able to unite us, absent a Pearl Harbor-style attack on this country.

Clearly the issue in the 2020 campaign is going to be Trump.

Is impeachment now back on the table? How can it not be?

Though Robert Mueller found no collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russians, support for impeachment hearings passed the midway mark inside the Democratic caucus in the House last week, even before the horrible weekend.

And if Democrats believe about Trump what their candidates say about him -- that he is a white nationalist racist and xenophobe deliberately stoking fear, hatred and violence, whose words and actions call to mind the fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini and Third Reich of Nazi Germany -- how can the Democratic leadership credibly not try to impeach him?

Yet, blaming the massacre in El Paso on the rhetoric of Donald Trump is a charge that can come back to bite his attackers. Neither the right nor left has a monopoly on political extremism or violence. And the hate-filled rhetoric of the left this last weekend exceeds anything used by Trump.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2020election; daytonshooting; demonrats; elpasoshooting; massshooting; presidenttrump
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1 posted on 08/06/2019 6:19:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They do it because it works. Unfortunately.


2 posted on 08/06/2019 6:23:29 AM PDT by brownsfan (Behold, the power of government cheese.)
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To: Kaslin

Everything has gotten scary and illogical. Really insane.

These are sad times.


3 posted on 08/06/2019 6:24:40 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: Kaslin

Be it abortion or mass killings, blood is the hard currency of the Democrats.


4 posted on 08/06/2019 6:26:03 AM PDT by allendale (.)
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To: brownsfan

Agree.


5 posted on 08/06/2019 6:26:24 AM PDT by Chuzzlewit
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To: Kaslin

They are doing it to raise MONEY too. Which is doubly despicable since much of it will go into their pockets at the end.


6 posted on 08/06/2019 6:28:19 AM PDT by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
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To: brownsfan
They do it because it works. Unfortunately.

For only one reason, the media portrays their hate as OK. The media is going into overdrive to support Dems, CBS This morning had 10 stories this morning, they used each one to attack Trump - it's out of control.

7 posted on 08/06/2019 6:28:29 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: ClearCase_guy

But also times of hope. We can get so demoralized when one is being buried under a “problem” you forget there is something on the other side. We get demoralized at the looming loss of “our country” and fail to consider the country we desire is just on the other side of that loss.


8 posted on 08/06/2019 6:33:39 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: 1Old Pro

“it’s out of control.”

It’s only out of control when the public decides it’s out of control.


9 posted on 08/06/2019 6:33:49 AM PDT by brownsfan (Behold, the power of government cheese.)
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To: Kaslin

Straight White men have been declared the enemy and their firearms as contraband. The Media/’Rat/Deep State Complex, with GOP collaboration, will institute “Red Flag” laws and hunt down “White Nationalists” using a thoroughly corrupt and dangerous FBI.

Any country that can and will arrest, incarcerate, and/or confiscate property from people BEFORE they commit a crime can no longer claim to be a Free Country.

“Land of the Free and Home of the Brave” has become a bad joke.


10 posted on 08/06/2019 6:38:11 AM PDT by TTFlyer
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To: Kaslin

I heard some idiot on one of the cable news channels, say that Trump should be impeached over these shootings. The justification was that he is bigoted and creates an environment where shootings can happen.

But how does anyone explain all of the mass shootings, which occurred when Democrats were president?


11 posted on 08/06/2019 6:39:56 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Kaslin

The American people better get a hold on themselves or they soon will lose this fine, God created American Republic. It is as clear as the nose on one’s face, that the dying (By its own hand) Democrat Party is doing everything it can to seize power and control over the American people and their lives. Socialism, Communism, Hatred of our POTUS, Donald J. Trump, Hatred of our Law Enforcement folks, etc., Hatred of the American people is the coming menu for these United States of America.

The current lineup of the Democrat Party 2020 POTUS candidates clearly reveals an established group of power hungry, evil, hateful, American haters who will immediately morph into Dictator, Tyrant, Despot leaders on the day they might be elected to the highest office in our great land of freedom & liberty, which will quickly disappear into Socialist/Communist/Big Brother/1984 controlled slavery!!!

Our great current POTUS, Donald J. Trump has a massive 2020 POTUS political campaign rally scheduled for Thursday, August 15, 2019 to be held in Manchester, New Hampshire in the SNHU arena (Capacity 13,000 people). The arena is already expected to be full to the rafters, but, we need a overwhelming Trump supporter turnout that reaches about 30,000 people. So...New England states....do your thing and turnout to support our great “Love America, Love All Americans, Donald J. Trump...period.

Contact www.donaldjtrump.com to obtain two (2) free tickets and further rally information. Do not just stand by and allow the scum & vermin Democrat Party and their fellow thugs and America haters in their “Hate America” Media to put you and your family into government controlled slavery...losing both your freedom & liberty in the process. Go, Trump, Go MEGA/MAGA. Keep America Great & Free With Liberty & Opportunity....Forever!!!


12 posted on 08/06/2019 6:50:50 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX (Defeat both the Republican (e) & Democrat (e) political parties....Forever!!!)
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To: brownsfan

NOBODY on the planet called Trimp, an international celebrity, a racist, bigot or homophobe UNTIL he was elected President! No one!


13 posted on 08/06/2019 6:53:27 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: wastoute

I am more and more afraid that the best option out of bad options is for the socialists to separate themselves into one country and they can set up a people’s republic and the free states can separate themselves out to a free country. Ideally, early-on people who want freedom but are in the wrong state could move to the free country and people who want to be serfs but are in free states could leave. The socialists will spend the next 20 or 30 years killing themselves off with Stalin-like purges and terror and starvation. But there would be a border while communism burns itself out like it always does.


14 posted on 08/06/2019 7:07:14 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: subterfuge

Can you imagine if all the GOP candidates in 2016 called Obama a racist and the media talking heads all agreeing? We are living in outer space.

15 posted on 08/06/2019 7:19:58 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Kaslin

I remember our local news chick, about 25 years ago, screaming about a man shooting “AN ASSAULT RIFLE! ASSAULT RIFLE! bla bla bla ASSAULT RIFLE!”

Finally they showed the rifle. A WW II era M1-carbine. They used to sell those through the mail 1945-1968.


16 posted on 08/06/2019 8:00:57 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: brownsfan

I thought they did it to fill air time. They are a joke and don’t report any real news.Hurricane weather reports is more news than these shootings.


17 posted on 08/06/2019 8:00:58 AM PDT by cnsmom (G)
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To: Kaslin
......... It's the .... "Never let a Crisis go to waste" ..... Strategy ....
18 posted on 08/06/2019 8:05:23 AM PDT by R_Kangel ("A nation of sheep will beget a nation ruled by wolves")
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To: brownsfan

They do it because the media not only expects it, but are part of the very same tribe doing it.

As long as the Left has this lock-hold in the media, things will not change, Leftist politicians won’t be called out, and demagoguery will prevail.

Fox News is not conservative news. OANN isn’t available to 90% of media watchers.

We need a hostile takeover, if possible, of one of the networks.

Comcast owns NBC, Disney owns ABC, AT&T owns CNN, and CBS and Viacomm are talking about re-merging.

Basically, 5 companies (including Fox) own television media.

Maybe we could talk Rush Limbaugh into buying one of the main parent corps?


19 posted on 08/06/2019 8:10:02 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (The media is after us. Trump's just in the way.)
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To: Kaslin

The fake Hispanic could barely contain his smile and was all giddy over the shootings in one of the early interviews. Those dead bodies will help pull him up in the rankings and bring in more $$$$$$.


20 posted on 08/06/2019 8:48:01 AM PDT by bgill
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