Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” White House aide Kellyanne Conway pointed to the negative political discourse on social media playing a role in the shooting at a Republicans practice for a congressional charity baseball game earlier this week.
That shooting critically injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who is recovering in a Washington, DC hospital.
Conway said, “I really would ask people to think about the hateful rhetoric. This man, this shooter the other day, didn’t hate baseball, He hated Republicans, and his social media feed was a complete anti-Trump, anti-Republican screed. For those particularly in the media who are so obsessed with the president’s social media postings, why isn’t everybody looking inside a little bit at what they’re posting and what they’re saying? Nobody is responsible for this shooting except the shooter. There is no question about that. But at the same time you can oppose policies, but with some such hateful charged rhetoric that active resistance becomes armed resistance in the case of this lone gunman.”
She continued, “Look at Twitter, If I were shot and killed tomorrow, half of Twitter would explode in applause and excitement. This is the world we live in right now. It’s terrible. Again it is one thing for people to say I disagree with you on the health care repeal, on taxes or national security plans, but you can’t attack people personally in a way and think that tragedies like this won’t happen.”
She added, “This is also the natural by-product you have after images of the president being shot in rapper’s video, or being assassinated in a production there in New York City, or a picture of a severed head. All of that is a toxic stew. Again there is no one to blame but the shooter here, but the calls for tamping down, there should also be some introspection there.”
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