Beto O’Rourke Says What The Media Won’t: Trump Is To Blame For El Paso Shooting

Beto O’Rourke blamed Trump and didn’t pull any punches while some in the corporate media refuse to blame Trump’s racism for the mass killings.

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Beto O’Rourke Blames Trump’s Racism For El Paso Shooting

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O’Rourke said on MSNBC’s AM Joy:

We got to meet with some of those families and victims last night. So many of them pulling through against the longest odds, multiple gunshot wounds, multiple family members and showing extraordinary strength. So this is one of the strongest places in the world, and if it’s ever been tested, it is now. But El Paso is going to pull through, overcome. And I hope that we’re going to be able to help lead this country in ensuring this does not continue to happen, that this is not the new normal. You asked about what we’re learning about the investigation. Some preliminary signs this was motivated by hatred, by racism, specifically against immigrants here in a community that’s 85% Mexican-American, with nearly a quarter of those with whom I lived were born in another country.

The kind of place Donald Trump has warned the rest of America about, talking about invasions and caravans and Mexican immigrants being rapists and criminals despite the fact that El Paso is one of the safest cities in the United States of America today and has been for the last 20 years. So joy I’m saying that there is a connection between this racism and this rhetoric including from the president and what we saw in El Paso yesterday. We have to put an end to it.

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I think this is the moment where you need to specifically describe immigrants as being a source of strength and also safety and security for this country. We know the numbers bear this out that immigrants commit crimes at a far lower rate than those born in this country, and yet despite that the president has been trying to stoke and instill fear in this country about immigrants. And that fear found a home, it looks like, in yesterday’s killing. Taking the lives of at least 20 El Pasoans, fueled by a fear of those who are different. And that difference by the president described as something that is dangerous, asylum seekers he described as an infestation, caravans that are going to invade in this country, Muslims that posed an inherent risk to this country and must be banned from entering, this helps to set the tone and create the environment for these kinds of acts of hatred and violence and intolerance.

O’Rourke was correct in everything that he said.

The President Of The United States sets the cultural tone for the country, and Donald Trump has preached racism, hatred, and invasion for years. Those who are mentally unwell hear Trump’s words as a call to action. Donald Trump didn’t pull any triggers, but he is planting seeds in minds with his talk of immigrant invasions, and racist attacks.

Many of the corporate media outlets that make a lot of money off of Trump’s presidency are pretending not to know the motivations for the shooters, but the motivations can be found on Trump’s Twitter account in black and white for the world to see. Donald Trump isn’t the shooter, but shooters are taking his words to heart and turning them into mass killings of innocent people.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association