Posted on 06/09/2020 7:24:38 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
Commentators reacted with shock and disgust to President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory that a 75-year-old man who was attacked and hospitalized by police last week “could be an ANTIFA provocateur.”
Two Buffalo police officers were charged with felony assault for shoving longtime activist Martin Gugino to the ground outside City Hall, resulting in Gugino hitting his head and bleeding from his ear. Gugino remains hospitalized, in “serious but stable” condition, according to his lawyer.
Donald J. Trump
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
Gugino’s lawyer responded to Trump’s tweet, asking “why the President of the United States would make such dark, dangerous, and untrue accusations against him.”
Commentators and journalists from both the left and right soon reacted as well with disbelief.
Peter J. Hasson
If he were trying to lose in November, what would he be doing differently?
“There was blood leaking from his head. It is visible on the video. He is still in the hospital,” noted NBC News correspondent Heidi Przybyla, while CNN’s Chris Cillizza questioned, “A 75 year old dude? Who started bleeding from his ear?”
Chris Cillizza
President Trump’s old friend Piers Morgan also weighed in on the comment, tweeting, “Shame on you, Mr Trump,” as Fox News contributor and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer declared, “The President’s penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories is, politically speaking, going to ruin him. This is reckless. He doesn’t know when to stop.”
Piers Morgan
BREAKING: President of the United States spreads insane conspiracy theory nonsense to falsely smear 75-yr-old man brutalised by police & still in serious condition in hospital. Shame on you, Mr Trump.
Ari Fleischer
The President’s penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories is, politically speaking, going to ruin him. This is reckless. He doesn’t know when to stop.
Erick Erickson
Please stop
Charles C. W. Cooke
He can’t stop. This is who he is. It isn’t schtick, or a tactic, or a political approach, or a mistake. This is who he is. It’s what he thinks, and how he thinks. He has for decades. Twitter shows us it, it doesn’t create it. https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1270345797578735618 …
Oliver Darcy
Drudge mocks Trump: "AARP-ANTIFA"
Jacob Siegel
Not taking the bait of Trump's tweets is generally good policy, but this is so despicable and sinister it merits an exception.
Joe Lockhart
Broken record playing again -- this man has serious mental health issues which we are ignoring as a country. This is well beyond playing partisan politics. He is living in a sick and twisted alternative universe. He's probably hearing voices at this point. But lets all ignore it
Bill Kristol
The president of the United States flat out defending police brutality--and not with the usual, "the police are under huge pressure, they've got to make split-second judgment calls" type of excuses, but with unabashed blaming-the-victim conspiracy theories.
Joshua Holland 🔥
If current trends persist, Republicans are going to nominate an actual tinfoil hat next time.
David Mack
this is beyond deranged
James Surowiecki
This is unbelievable in so many ways, including the fact that Trump for some reason thought it was smart to mention Gugino's age, just so we were all clear he's defending cops who shoved a 75-year-old to the sidewalk.
Lis Power
Here's the absolutely insane OAN report that Trump is referencing: "The latest tensions in the Buffalo police department could be the result of a false flag provocation by far left group antifa"
Ben Collins
The OAN conspiracy theory the president is livetweeting here was reported by an ex-Sputnik (Russian state media) reporter, who last month claimed coronavirus was a cover by George Soros, Bill Gates, Dr. Fauci, the Clintons and China for "population control."
David Frum
When this line of argument fails, Trump will retreat to his classic all-purpose excuse: "It was Obama who shoved the 75 year old man to the sidewalk and cracked his head."
But it is my understanding that the man has a self proclaimed reputation of being an agitator. And isn’t it ageism to suggest he is not capable of confronting the police in hopes of drawing a physical response?
It’s true. There are Leftist from the West coast and the East coast.
He said “could be”.
This “spectrum” is very telling of what the media allows in to our “public square”.
It’d be fun to see how far back this guy’s theatrical activities go.
Not us. That’s for sure.
We’re the “Silenced Majority”.
Or plurality.
Anyway... the media could deal with a “Silent Majority”.
But a majority that speaks up has to be suppressed.
Omission is the media’s favored method of propsganda... if the guy had been a tea party protester doing this at an Obsma rally or some such, the press would have had every face book post and every tweet from the guy going all the way back through high school.
With this guy they didn’t even look to see what groups he was associated with until long after when just one paper mentioned it.
The Catholic Workers contrary to the name, are not saints and aren’t followers of the 10 commandments.
Mark Dice
How much did Al Sharpton charge George Floyd’s family to speak at his funeral?
I always wondered what Bernie Sanders would have been like had never ventured into politics. I think this guy shows us what an alternate universe Bernie would be like.
The first time I saw this video, something seemed off about it. I’m not one to always side with the police ... but I don’t think they were guilty of anything.
Look close. There is something under his sweater on the right side.
Looks like Trump KNOWS something. Can’t wait for it to come out!
The injured man, Martin Gugino, is a 75-year-old peace activist who is being treated for cancer, according to The Associated Press.
The tweet was startling enough to draw disapproval from some Republicans. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) described it as “shocking.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/501948-the-memo-floyds-legacy-reverberates-beyond-his-funeral?userid=423436
...because black clad thug Marxists wouldn’t hurt anyone...
The flop !
Trump
Is trolling. I know why. Expect the truth to come out on this guy
He deleted his ENTIRE history on social media. It ain’t gone
#5. The “truth” is irrelevant to their hatred of Pres. Trump.
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