Or "Trump influenced me."
On Friday, yet another lawyer for a man charged with a violent crime blamed President Donald Trump's rhetoric for inspiring his client. Attorney Lance Jasper says his client Curt Brockway, who assaulted a 13-year-old boy for refusing to remove his hat during the national anthem, believed he was acting on Trump's orders.
Of course, that’s because no other president in recent memory has used the largest bully pulpit in the world in the way that Trump has. Trump’s words have consequences, as suggested again this weekend by the El Paso shooter’s virulently anti-immigrant manifesto.
The president and his surrogates have argued that he doesn’t direct people to commit violence. But, clearly that can’t be the standard to which we hold the president. There can be no question that his rhetoric has contributed to a dangerous cultural moment in America.
I could take all the lies that I've heard in my 65+ years on this planet and combined they wouldn't total the number of lies that Trump has told as president in just over 2.5 years. In my early teens my father told me that a person that lies to you will steal from you. What a smart man my father was as Trump is one of those liars and he is a thief. I would bet Trump has already found the safe place that he will flee to as soon as his presidency ends because all but the 33% who support him knows that this guy deserves to spend the rest of his miserable life locked up in the nastiest prison in the world. Amen.
“The ideology that can inspire some to mass murder is taking inspiration from the President. We went to a neo-Nazi festival in Germany a few weeks ago. But what surprised us most is what organizers were handing out at the door. So, they’re giving out hats. M-G-H-A, make Germany hate again.”
— NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel on NBC Nightly News, August 5, 2019.
Let's see... It can't be tRump's fault because he doesn't direct anyone to do anything. But it's not anyone else's fault because they were just acting on tRump's orders.
That pretty much covers everybody doesn't it? Noone can be held accountable.
I suppose it's about time to install someone who intentionally does things -- like on purpose. If I hear our supposed leader say 'well, I guess we'll see' one more time, I'll probably scream.
And I very much agree with LimitedLight below. tRump and the Republicans are constantly doing immense damage to our country the longer they're allowed to stay in office. It'll take years to recover if we ever do. And you know they'll be complaining the whole recovery time. They'll say it'll 'be too expensive' and will 'hurt the economy'. What a load of frankly evil horseshit.
He’s nothing short of a stochastic terrorist, yet nothing more either. His stunning ineffectiveness at everything else is his only saving grace. Every consecutive day for the past 2 years I’ve sat in more disbelief than the last. I feel like I’m having a prolonged aneurysm at the speed of whales’ song.
Really well described. Pretty much since election night....
@LimitedLight not saying he’s not doing a lot of damage by a long shot. Just imagine how much more damage he could be doing if he didn’t spend 8 hrs a day golfing, bitching on twitter, and used his position with a modicum of intelligence though (but then he wouldn’t be him). It could still inconceivably be worse, but not by much. I’m just saying his frantic laziness and obsession with image is the only mitigating factor in this shitshow.