I don’t blame Sen. Bernie Sanders for James Hodgkinson shooting House majority Whip Steve Scalise at baseball practice in Arlington, Virginia in 2018. Although Hodgkinson, a rabid Sanders follower, had posted several screeds on Facebook calling for the “termination” of the Republican party and similar themes and had participated in the Sanders campaign in 2016, his assassination attempt was his alone — despite his adherence to fringe-left ideology.
I don’t blame former President Barack Obama for the deaths of Dallas police officers in a shootout with Micah X. Johnson, who claimed interest in Black Lives Matter, according to Reuters, and was quoted by NBC news as saying he wanted “to kill white people, especially white officers.” His 14 victims — 12 police, five of whom died, and two civilians — are his victims, not the Obama’s.
Likewise, Connor Betts, not Elizabeth Warren, bears the responsibility for last week’s carnage in Toledo, Ohio, which claimed nine. Even Snopes confirms that Betts was “A pro-Satan leftist who supported Elizabeth Warren.” But not Kamela Harris, who he described as a “cop.” No, Betts’ body count was his, not his political guru’s.
Likewise, the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, which claimed a gruesomely large number of innocent victims, was not the work of President Donald Trump. It was, from first to last, the responsibility of the shooter, one Patrick W. Crusius, a self-avowed “white nationalist” who, according to ABC news, told police investigators that he “wanted to shoot as many Mexicans as possible.” As with the previous perpetrators, the murders were his and his alone.
Except that’s not what one hears nor will hear. From most quarters, the word in the media is that the real triggerman in El Paso lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and that he has millions of “white supremacist” followers, the term ”racist” now having been drained of all impact. “It’s his doing,” the president’s political opponents howl, backed by a chorus of those who may not believe that the man can talk people into murder but find him odious so embrace the argument.
This is a dark and dangerous path but one familiar from the left: Concoct the most outrageous accusation possible, broadcast it as widely as possible and trust your enablers among the chattering classes to amplify your claims without the slightest attempt at verification. Do all of this while howling to the moon about the loss of “unity” in Trump’s America. And since nose clips would be too obvious, daub a little Vicks under the nostrils to mask the stench of hypocrisy.
Because if Trump is capable of moving people to massacre, then so can Sanders. Or Warren. Or Obama. Or any person with an idea deemed inflammatory or dangerous. But that’s not how America is intended to work. Here, a murderer is responsible for his victims, who aren’t killed by whispers, “dog-whistles,” an “atmosphere of violence,” a lack of “racial justice” or any other such twaddle. They fall to firearms, bombs, vehicles or other weapons, often wielded by young men. White men. Black men. Muslim men. (Remember Syed Farook?)
They are alienated, angry and filled with the impulse to lash out. Not having the tools to deal with their internal struggles, they kill. This is the real question: Why the anger, and why is murder seen as the acceptable solution? Maybe the mayhem has more to do with realizing that life and work are more demanding than one was led to believe back when everyone was awesome and got a trophy just for showing up. Or maybe Tipper Gore was right. Maybe “Grand Theft Auto 97” is one highly addictive, ultraviolent cocktail too many.
Meanwhile, seven people were shot dead and 49 wounded in Chicago last weekend. You didn’t notice because you’re racist.
That’s fair, isn’t it?
Morgan Liddick’s column “On Your Right” publishes Tuesdays in the Summit Daily News. Liddick spent 27 years working for the U.S. Foreign Service, primarily living abroad. He also spent 12 years teaching U.S. history and Western civilization at community colleges in Colorado and Texas. He lived in Summit County as recently as 2015 and currently lives in Virginia. Contact him at mcliddick@hotmail.com.